Kids Will Be Kids
by kingfisher's game
Summary: A recipe for disaster with three ingredients: 1) a police officer with a sadistic streak, 2) a bloodthirsty space pirate, and 3) the only thing in the entire universe that can get them on the same side—a girl. Of course.
1. Weak

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 1: People Who Have Weak Stomachs Shouldn't Eat Food They Found Outside

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: A little about_ Kids Will Be Kids _—I've been working on this story intermittently since I first started watching_ Gintama _a few years ago, and it's finally complete. That's right, this story has been 100% written. All that's left is to revise and post the chapters. I'm looking to update biweekly, so make sure to hold me accountable with reviews, favorites, and follows!_

 _This story takes place after the Battle on Rakuyou arc and before the Silver Soul arc. It fits pretty cleanly into canon aside from the fact that in this story, Utsuro's somehow on the back burner and a year has passed since Kagura returned to Earth from Rakuyou, making Kagura 15 years old while Sougo and Kamui are both 19._

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

A ray of early summer sun filtering through the leaves of the tree above was leaving a patch of heat on Gintoki's left cheek. He left his eyes closed for another second, relishing the rare moment of peace. How long had he been napping? Long enough for the lone ray to leave a sunburn? If so, maybe Kagura was already finished with the job.

Today's client had enlisted the Yorozuya to bring him a fish from a hidden pond on a mountainside a few miles from Edo. Apparently the fish were magical. Probably some Amanto nonsense as usual, but the client had paid half up front and Gintoki wasn't about to leave perfectly good cash on the table. Making money while sleeping felt like a job well done—not that he'd suggested splitting up to leave Kagura with all the work on purpose, but she'd kept him up all night with her friggin' "nemurenai-aru"s and he'd been so exhausted that his hourly JUMP-reading break had turned into slumber.

But he could hardly blame himself, could he? The atmosphere was perfect for a nap. Life as a business owner and single parent of two idiot children rarely left time for enjoying the simple things in life, like the way the long, wispy grass flicked against his bare arms or sweet smell of fresh air. An outside nap on a day like this was pure bliss. The warm sunlight, the sound of birds chirping and leaves rustling, the smell of grilled fish…

Grilled…fish?

Gintoki jumped to his feet and took off toward the source of the smell. "Kagura! Kagura, where are you? Those fish are going to pay our rent for the next three months! They're going to pay off my pachinko debts! If you're stuffing your face with magical fish right now, I'll deduct the expenses out of your portion of the reward!"

"If you do, you'll have to actually start paying me, uh-huh," Kagura replied between bites, not even turning away from her campfire to acknowledge Gintoki's approach. Beside her was a massive pile of wooden sticks and fish skeletons, all bare save for the scanty bits of meat that hadn't made their way down the Yato girl's black hole of a gullet.

 _That little piglet…_ "Have you been sitting here eating fish this whole time? Seriously? While I've been slaving away searching for this pond, criss-crossing all over the mountain…"

One look at Kagura's deadpan expression was enough to communicate to Gintoki how little faith she had in his work ethic. He sighed and kicked a few sticks out of the way to sit down next to her. "…Well anyway, did you at least leave any for me?"

"There's one left there, uh-huh," Kagura jabbed a thumb at the pond behind her, where a glittering white form darted through the clear water. So she'd left him one? That was good, he'd been feeling a little peckish since waking up. It was surprisingly thoughtful of Kagura to leave one for him—

"That's for the client, though," she added.

Of course.

"I caught something else, if you want to grill it up and eat it. It might taste funny, but since you're an sadist too you should be immune to its do-S germs."

"Oi, China girl, I was the one who caught you trespassing. This is a government protected site. It's illegal to fish in this pond." A wooden skewer shot down from a tree branch above Kagura and impaled itself in the soil next to her, narrowly missing her head. Above them, Sougo leaned back on the branch and clucked his tongue in disappointment. "Tch. Almost."

"You ate them too, uh-huh. I'm going to report you to the police for taking a bribe from a criminal."

"I am the police. And in this situation, you're the criminal."

"Hey Gin-chan, tell the tax robber to find some other loyal citizen to accuse of fishing in a sacred pool protected by the government!"

"Shut up," Gintoki growled, swatting Kagura on the head. "You're both breaking the law."

"In any case, I'm going to have to take this one down to the station," Sougo said to Gintoki as he hopped down from the branch, patted his stomach, and pulled out a pair of spiked handcuffs and a matching collar. "Let's go, China. Put your hands behind your back. If you come quietly, I'll leave the muzzle off."

Kagura rose to protest, apparently having recovered from the post-meal afterglow that had so far limited their fight to verbal taunts. The fish had been a delicious (although temporary) olive branch, but a good sparring session would be the best way to work off the calories. _Gintama_ 's heroine had to stay trim.

Sougo cracked a grin at her, ready for the inevitable challenge. He'd been given the assignment to guard the pond as punishment while the usual security guy was in the hospital (an unfortunate result of his having gotten between Sougo's bazooka and Hijikata. An accident. No one's fault, really). After a full week of the most boring post he'd ever been subjected to, Sougo was almost— _almost_ —ready to reconsider the more violent aspects of his crusade against the Vice-Chief. If Sougo got punished every time he sent that bastard a killing blow, he'd never get off this useless assignment.

Half an hour earlier he'd been sitting in this tree 'supervising' the inside of his eye mask when he'd heard someone skipping up to the pond. He'd been about to drop to the ground and stop the intruder from approaching when he'd recognized the China girl's voice. Those constant 'uh-huh's were unmistakeable. It was a prime opportunity to get her arrested (and threatening members of the Yorozuya with legal action was practically a perk of the job by now), so he'd waited until she'd started cooking to reveal his presence.

Honestly, she was asking to be messed with. Who walks up to a sacred site and starts fishing?

But the fish had smelled so good…and being up on this goddamn mountain for the past week had done dirty things to his appetite. It definitely didn't help that there was probably no one in the world who enjoyed eating as much as Kagura did. She made it seem like even after consuming almost every creature in the pond, she still couldn't get enough.

Sougo couldn't resist. Well, not that he really tried. Instead of slapping a pair of cuffs on her as soon as he revealed his presence, he'd allowed her to bribe him into a little stay on her arrest.

It was worth it. Sougo could shoot an angel out of the heavens and roast it (and he would, if he ever got the chance), but it wouldn't taste as good as the magical fish. Now, though, he was full enough to get back to his main task—causing trouble for Kagura and Gintoki. He stepped toward her and and rattled the collar. "Don't try to run away. A beast like you belongs on a leash."

For a moment, Sougo waited for her retort, anticipating an accusation of sadism with a 40% chance that she would tell him he was wasting the taxpayers' money.

Kagura was silent.

"Hey, China. Aren't you going to put up a fight? You should know I think it's less fun to hit someone who isn't trying to hit back."

Kagura had turned pale—paler than usual. She dropped to one knee.

"Kagura?" Gintoki looked up from his attempts to catch the last sparkling fish in a basket. It wasn't like Kagura to pass up a fight with Sougo. She had a distinct look of shock on her face. Was it the fish? In the past, Kagura had eaten obscene amounts of food that had passed its expiration date with no incident. Magical fish, though…and she was famous for throwing up at the drop of a hat, anyway. Gintoki would have to handle the situation delicately.

"If you're gonna yak, China, let me know. I still have nightmares about that time with the waterfall of vomit." Sougo said, already in front of Kagura and tipping her face up to look for signs of whatever was wrong.

"I feel weird…" a whine issued from the girl. Her face was white, save for two red patches high on her cheeks. Her skin felt unusually warm against Sougo's hand. She was staring at his face, but her eyes looked too hazy to really be seeing him.

"Hey, hey, get ahold of yourself!" Gintoki said, rushing to her side. The girl looked like she'd taken the train to barf city and was approaching fast. There was a severe shortage of mosaic censors in _Gintama_ since the attempted invasion of the D***s from Planet C********* (creators of the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon) last week. Every member of the Shinsengumi had been forced to do overtime to cover up the many instances of male nudity that had afflicted the city. If Kagura was going to ralph now, she'd have to do it off-screen.

With Kagura in this state, Gintoki was going to have to leave the capture of the last magical fish for another day. "I'm going to take you home. Sadaharu, where are you? Sadaharu!"

Carrying the half-conscious Kagura fireman-style, he turned to look for Sadaharu, but was halted by a choking sensation around his neck. He brought a hand to his throat. "What?"

In true do-S style, Sougo had attached the spiked collar while Gintoki wasn't looking. "Where do you think you're going?"

"W-well, since Kagura-chan is feeling a little under the weather, I think I'll take her home so she can lie down. Don't want to keep the client waiting, ha ha…"

"Didn't you hear me say that that girl is under arrest, Danna? She trespassed and went fishing in a restricted area. Actually, I should arrest you too. Look, there's only one more sacred fish in the pond. How are you going to take responsibility, hah?"

"Now, now, Soichirou-kun, don't go sounding like a yakuza. I hate to see what the influence of those tax-robbing thugs is doing to the young people these days."

"It's Sougo."

"Ah, of course, Shoichi-kun. So why are those magical fish so special? Our client didn't explain why he wanted them."

"It's Sougo. And I don't know exactly what makes those fish magical. The only detail I got with this assignment was that they were a gift from that Prince Baka-"

 _BANG_. Kagura, lying motionless on Gintoki's shoulder, erupted in a cotton candy-like puff of pink smoke. On instinct, Sougo whipped around with a hand on the hilt of his sword to search for the source of the explosion, but there was none save the girl herself.

The girl who had suddenly become a lot…less.

The force of the explosion had knocked her off Gintoki's shoulder and onto the ground. Sadaharu, sensing some kind of danger affecting his owner, licked her face.

"Kagura! Oi, Kagura, are you okay?" Gintoki kneeled down to assess the girl's injuries, but the 15-year-old had disappeared. In her place was a puddle of clothes and some kind of lump. A moving lump.

"W-w-w-w-what is that? What could that be, Soichirou-kun, hm?"

"Ah… The remains?"

The answering punch from Gintoki knocked Sougo to the ground. " _What do you mean, the remains!?_ "

"Never mind." Sougo had been joking, of course. There was no way a Yato could be taken down by that weak impact, but he could understand Gintoki's reaction—whatever was under those clothes wasn't big enough to make up a full-sized China girl. _Where did she go?_

The lump under the clothing straightened and sat up. A small child's face, bright with curiosity, peered out from under Kagura's shirt to study the shocked faces of the two men. Round, blue eyes widened in interest.

If Gintoki hadn't been panicking before, he was now. Sougo was starting to feel a similar rise in his pulse. Just what…?

"Hey, Souichirou-kun, that's not…"

"C'mon Danna, there's no way…"

"Right, of course it couldn't be her."

"China's 15 years old. She may be small, but she's not that small."

"Her and this kid must have switched places." Gintoki knelt down next the kid. "Excuse me, little girl, what's your name? Where did you even come from? Where are your parents? How old are you?"

The child blinked slowly and straightened her back, drawing Kagura's shirt further over her head to block the sunlight from reaching her face. "I'm 5. My Papi is gal- gally- gal-uh-van-ting around the universe. That's what Mami says. Mami is in bed, but me 'n' Nii-chan take care of her."

 _Shit_ , thought Gintoki.

"I'm a Yato. I don't give my address to strangers."

 _Fuck_ , thought Sougo.

"My name is Kagura, and—" she burst into tears "— _I want to go home!_ "

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: We're starting out with a short chapter, so stay tuned for the next one! Follows, favorites, and reviews are greatly appreciated. If you have questions about context or content, I'll be happy to answer them. Seriously, your feedback is the #1 motivator for me to keep posting. Thanks!_


	2. Coincidence

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 2: Never Underestimate the Power of Coincidence

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Weekdays have gotten busy for me now that I'm back at uni, so I'm planning to update on weekends (biweekly) instead of Thursdays._

 _I forgot to mention in the first chapter that in this fic's universe, the Shogun Assassination arc occurred but the Farewell Shinsengumi arc did not. The Shinsengumi weren't blamed for the Shogun's assassination, and they weren't disbanded before the Rakuyou arc. A big thank you goes out to one of my reviewers on AO3 for asking about it!_

* * *

"D—"

"D—"

" _DONDAKE!?_ How can that be Kagura? That kid is too small! Way too small!"

"Now, now, Shin-chan, look at that pink hair! Those blue eyes! Those cute little cheeks~!" Otae pulled the mini-sized Kagura into a tight hug and pinched her cheeks.

Kagura pouted, but her moue dropped a second later as she climbed into the woman's lap to snuggle. Just like the older Kagura, she'd taken an instant liking to Otae. What kid could resist those soothing older-sister vibes?

Otae was just as delighted by the appearance of the child. "Aw, this is so nostalgic! A little sister is really the best, hm?" She hugged the girl. "Ne, Shin-chan, do you remember when we were little how you used to play dress-up in girl clothes so I could pretend you were my cute little sister?"

"'Play' dress-up? You beat me up and forced me to wear dresses…" Shinpachi's voice trailed off as he noticed a dark shadow growing on his sister's face.

"Did you say anything, Shin-chan?"

"N-no."

"Are you sure? I thought I heard you say something."

"No, you're mistaken."

"If you want to say something, you can always be honest with your older sister."

"I didn't hear anything," Gintoki chimed in. He and Sougo had both been tricked into consuming some sort of unholy dark matter that Otae had 'cooked', and the two of them were still recovering. At least Kagura had been spared.

When the little girl had introduced herself back by the pond, the only thought running through Gintoki's mind had been to bring her to someone who knew how to deal with the situation, because he sure didn't. What's the standard protocol when your 15-year-old employee-slash-foster-child turns back the clock 10 years? All Gintoki knew was that between the Kodokan dojo (where he could count on Otae's sisterly presence and Shinpachi's motherly presence) and the Yorozuya (where the only adult present would be an unreliable deadbeat, aka himself), the dojo was the clear winner.

Sougo had tagged along for some yet unexplained reason. Gintoki hoped it wasn't because he still wanted to arrest the two of them. After all, if it had been Sougo's job to keep people away from the pond, wasn't this whole situation his fault? If he'd done his job correctly, Kagura wouldn't have eaten those magical fish—no, those _alien_ fish—and Gintoki wouldn't have a 5-year-old Yato on his hands.

"So this is really Kagura-chan? This tiny kid?" Shinpachi asked. Kagura looked back at him with bright blue eyes.

"I'm Kagura. Who're you, uh-huh?" Her voice was more high-pitched than usual, but he could detect a familiar strain of stubbornness in it. She was little, but not even a little kid likes to be talked about like they're not in the room.

"S-sorry, Kagura-chan. It's me, Shinpachi. You don't recognize me?"

Kagura shook her head and detached herself from Otae's arms. She drew away and pulled her knees closer to her chest, looking down at the ground. For a second, it struck them how small she was, how scared she looked. How unlike the usual Kagura. "I wanna go home. I wanna see Mami and Nii-chan."

"Hey, hey, come here." Gintoki ruffled Kagura's unbound hair. "It'll be okay. We'll get you back to normal in no time."

Sougo sighed. "It looks like China doesn't have any memories from the past 10 years. I guess when her body regressed, her mind did too."

"Why are you even here?" Gintoki asked. Sougo sensed it was a rhetorical question and declined to answer.

"Gin… Gin-chan…" Kagura tugged on the front of Gintoki's robe.

"Hm?"

"Where am I? Where's Mami and Papi and Nii-chan, uh-huh?"

"Gin-san didn't tell you anything?" Shinpachi asked.

She reached up to yank on a curly white lock of Gintoki's hair experimentally. "Gin-chan said I'm s'pposed to be bigger, but I don't really get it, uh-huh. Family is still there when you get bigger."

"Ouch, don't pull so hard." Gintoki pulled a small hand away from his head and considered how he was supposed to explain to Kagura where her family was. The baldy was still gallivanting around the universe like she'd said before, but the mom was another story… And it wasn't like her brother was an easy topic either. Maybe she'd think it was cool that 'Nii-chan' was a pirate now?

"You're on Earth, but don't worry about the rest. Whatever this is should wear off once you barf up all the fish you ate," said Sougo.

"I wouldn't be so sure." A foreign voice brought all attention to the ceiling, where a gorilla poked its head through the panel it had removed.

"Aneue, there's a gorilla stalking you."

"It's okay, Shin-chan! I've noticed one hanging around, so I bought this extra-strong gorilla killing spray!" Otae, smiling despite the vein standing out on her forehead, pulled a spray can marked with a skull and crossbones out of a nearby drawer and aimed it at the gorilla's face.

"W-w-w-w-w-wait! It's me, Kondou! I can tell you what's happening to Miss China."

Otae lowered the mister. "Get down from there and spill, gorilla."

The force of Otae's cruelty brought Kondou down from the ceiling abruptly. Wiping the blood away from his mouth, the chief of the Shinsengumi straightened and frowned. "Sougo, you were supposed to be guarding the pond. How was Kagura able to eat all those fish?"

Sougo, who was using the fingernail on his right pinky to pick his teeth for any remaining bits of fish meat, replied, "Beats me."

"Oi, Soichirou-kun, you shouldn't lie to your superior, even if he's a gorilla." Gintoki took his finger out of his nostril and blew away a booger. "When I happened upon those two brats in the forest, they were both stuffing their faces. It was like two high school rivals who can't stand the sight of each other eating together on the roof, because they're both too stubborn to go somewhere else."

"What do you mean?"

"Y'know, like the start of a school anime. Sougo: delinquent third year, skips class to sleep alone on the roof. Enter Kagura: first year sukeban type, looking for a quiet place to eat her lunch. At first she didn't even know he was there, but when he revealed himself and told her to get lost, she offered up some of her lunch as tribute to share the territory." Gintoki paused. "It went pretty much like that, I think."

"Sougo…" Kondou sounded defeated. Sougo sent Gintoki a dirty look. "Those fish were a gift from an Amanto dignitary. The water from that pond is famous for its rejuvenating qualities. Thanks to those fish, the land on that mountain is exceptionally fertile."

"Ew, a gorilla shouldn't say the word 'fertile'!" said Otae.

"O-Otae-san…"

"Get to the point!" yelled the resident straight man.

"Yes! Anyway, the meat of the fish should have amazing properties. Eating one fish could clear up your skin and restore luster to your hair," Kondou continued.

Sougo patted his hair. Indeed, it was shinier and softer than it had been this morning.

"If Kagura ate a large amount of the fish in that pond, there's no telling what the effects might be. What would be revitalization and rejuvenation for a human must be different for a Yato." Kondou let a long-suffering sigh escape him. "Honestly, Sougo, something like this was bound to happen with you slacking off. If you keep sleeping on the job, you'll never get promoted above Toshi."

"If my next assassination plan works, you'll have no choice but to make me vice chief," Sougo muttered under his breath.

"What?" asked Kondou.

"What?" asked Sougo.

"What's an ass-nation?" asked Kagura, ceasing her assault on Gintoki's natural perm.

"Don't teach Kagura-chan strange things," said Otae at the same time as Gintoki said, "It's a nation of just the Shinsengumi."

"Aren't you all missing the point here?" asked Shinpachi. "How are we going to turn her back?"

Kagura looked up from where she was pulling on Gintoki's fluffy white hair. To tell the truth, she'd been a little scared when she got to this weird planet and was immediately accosted by two strange men asking her all sorts of questions, but… The white-haired one was nice and smelled like candy, and the one with red eyes barely looked like a proper grown-up (even if he sometimes said things that she didn't understand). They didn't seem _so_ bad.

Apparently they knew a bigger Kagura. She wondered what she was like at 15 years old. Tall and pretty like Mami?

Anyway, Big Kagura had a lot of weird friends. If she were on her home planet she'd have made a greater effort to stay away from strangers, but this was Earth. Even if the Earthlings were bad guys, they wouldn't pose much of a threat against a Yato girl! And it helped that they were all familiar with the Big Kagura. She was nervous, and she missed her family, but she knew she had people who cared about her.

It wasn't until this point that she realized there was a chance she wouldn't be able to get back.

"Hmm… I'd rather talk about this at the Shinsengumi, but I guess it can't be helped. Those fish came from the planet Oukoku, a gift from Prince Hata. Oukoku is the only place that would know how to cure her. They're hosting an interplanetary police conference in a week and a half. I was planning on sending Toshi, but I guess I could add a detour to the trip."

"You're going to make the mayonnaise bastard take care of a 5-year-old on a long, boring diplomatic trip to another planet? Wow, Kondou-san, that's inspired. I almost wish I'd thought of it," Sougo said, ignoring the betrayed looks Kagura was throwing him

Kondou scratched his chin. "I think you misunderstood me, Sougo. Doesn't it make sense that the one responsible for this situation should have to fix it?"

"Aa?"

"The gorilla's telling you to pack your bags, Soichirou-kun, 'cause you just won a vacation to Oukoku." Gintoki reached behind himself to try to pry Kagura's fingers out of his hair, but she held on with surprising strength. "And you get a free Kagura-chan included. Aren't you lucky?"

Sougo blinked slowly, attempting to process the information he'd been given.

"Wait, is this really okay? I mean, does Okita-san even know how to take care of a 5-year-old?" asked Shinpachi, pointing out the obvious (as usual) to an audience that had somehow missed the obvious (as usual).

"I can take care of myself!" Kagura pouted. Everyone ignored her.

"Someone else should go with them," Shinpachi finished.

"Should be fine, as long as you civilians stay away from the governmental aspects of the mission," said Kondou.

Otae tapped a slim finger against her lip as she thought. "Mm, I'd like to go, but I can't be away from the club and the dojo for so long. And Shin-chan knows nothing about taking care of a child, so he'd be useless."

"Aneue… you're right, but that was unnecessarily harsh."

Gintoki had finally untangled Kagura's fingers from his hair when he noticed everyone looking at him. "Guess it's up to me, then. That okay with you, Kagura-chan?"

"Mm… Yeah!"

Sougo, who had remained silent throughout this discussion, finally opened his mouth, only to close it again like a gaping fish. Because of the China girl, he was going to have to take a tedious assignment that Hijikata would have gotten otherwise. Plus, he was going to have to deal with this tiny version of his annoying rival the whole time. He considered how he would get back at her, once she was back to her normal size. Poisoning? Poisoning seemed appropriate.

"Oh, I should let you know—there's barely enough room in the budget to add one more ticket for Miss China. If you want to tag along, you'll have to pay your own way. I think one adult round-trip ticket costs around 500,000 yen?"

Gintoki blinked. Pulled out his wallet. Looked inside. The contents—a candy wrapper, a long-expired condom, and a few receipts—were not promising.

Sougo was still contemplating torture methods when he felt a heavy hand clap down on his shoulder. Gintoki was patting him forcefully on the shoulder and giving him a thumbs-up.

"Danna? You're still coming, right?"

The smile on Gintoki's face was twitching. "You heard Kagura, she can take care of herself! It's good for children to be independent. If Kagura's at the age where she wants to go on trips with her boyfriend, who am I to judge?"

"Wait…what?" Sougo looked back and forth between Gintoki's strained smile and Kagura's doe-eyed look of obliviousness. "You know I've never taken care of a child in my life, right? This is not a good idea."

"Neither is sleeping on the job," Gintoki replied sagely. Kagura nodded, unclear on what exactly had transpired but knowing at least this: for the first time in her life, she was going to go on a vacation!

…

Abuto would never cease to be amazed at the amount of food his commander could put away in a single sitting. True, all Yato had big appetites, but Kamui was something of an outlier. Abuto felt a pang of pity for Kamui's parents. How had they been able to afford to feed the boy back when he was growing up?

The vice-commander knew his mind was wandering from the report he was supposed to be working on to update the Kiheitai on the 7th division's position and plans, but he couldn't bring himself to care. This report should be Kamui's responsibility anyway, but right now the commander was more concerned with his lunch, a daily ritual that involved at least half a dozen barrels of rice and whatever else he could scavenge from the ship's kitchens. That kid and his food…maybe that was the source of his ridiculous strength. Could power be directly proportional to calories consumed? It was almost a reasonable conclusion.

If so, Kamui's younger sister must have a healthy appetite as well. Abuto was far from forgetting his fight with her when they first met in Yoshiwara; the way she'd transformed from the weak child her brother believed her to be to a bonafide monster like a switch inside her had been flipped. Honestly, if she hadn't been stopped by her little Earthling friend with the glasses, Abuto would probably be dead now. "I wonder if crazy strength and crazy hunger run in the family, hm…"

"Did you say something?" asked Kamui, wiping a few stray grains of rice from his cheek. The hairs on the back of Abuto's neck rose at the commander's voice. Since when had the kid been paying attention?

"…I was just wondering if your sister has your appetite. If so, she must have a tough time on Earth."

"Oh?" The look on Kamui's face sent shivers up Abuto's spine. He had set down the rice paddle in the middle of a meal (a rare occurrence and even more rarely a good sign) and was now looking directly at Abuto. His signature smile was still on his face, but his eyes had opened a fraction—just enough to spell disaster. "Do you make it a habit to think about my little sister's daily life?"

Kamui knew Abuto had been beyond impressed with Kagura's performance when the two of them fought in Yoshiwara. Abuto had admitted not wanting to kill someone with such potential, but it was still worth quite a bit that Kagura had won against a veteran Yato soldier with enough presence of mind to walk away afterward. Whatever drew Abuto to Kamui—camaraderie, intrigue, awe maybe (Kamui could never be sure)—had been piqued in response to his sister. And Kamui didn't like it.

It was unfair, almost, that Abuto had gotten to see her lose herself like that and Kamui hadn't.

"Don't exaggerate… I was watching you polish off that rice and I felt sorry for the young lady. Earthlings don't eat much, you know. I hope that silver-haired samurai is giving her enough to eat."

Kamui resumed eating. "It's pointless to worry about such things. Your love for the Yato will come back to haunt you sooner or later."

"I don't want to hear that from the damn idiot whose obedience to his Yato blood is always getting me in trouble. Look at all this paperwork I have to do from your last rampage." Abuto waved a sheet of paper around. "Do you even know what these investigation missives from Takasugi say?"

Kamui took the latest file from the stack and opened it to read it out. "'The Demon Vice Chief of the Shinsengumi…traveling alone as a diplomatic envoy…Oukoku…commercial spacecraft, poorly defended…there's Yakult in the fridge.' Shinsuke really likes his Yakult." Kamui skimmed the rest of the summary with increasing interest. "Oukoku, huh…that's always a nice place to visit, if you don't mind making a stop after we capture the Vice-Chief."

Abuto raised an eyebrow. The few occasions he and Kamui had been to the planet were with Hosen years ago, and they'd stayed in love hotels and brothels the whole time. It was definitely a biased representation (based on the old lecher's preference, may he rest in peace), but the women in Oukoku were hot. Even with the weird tentacle things on their foreheads. Kamui had been too young to get the appeal way back when, but who knows? Maybe he was finally developing normal hormones. "What're you talking about? Kids under 20 should stay away from there. There's nothing a strength-obsessed guy like you would be interested in anyway."

"Not the women. There's something else. I have a feeling. I don't know how to explain it, but…" Kamui's grin grew sinister. "…I can smell a fight."

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Finally Kamui makes an appearance! He'll play a bigger role when things really get going in the next chapter, so stay tuned._

 _About the timeline,_ Gintama _never explicitly states how old Kamui is when he leaves home_ _(IIRC)_ _. However, we know that he trained under Hosen, and that when Kamui was 18 Hosen had been retired in Yoshiwara for the past 8 years, so Kamui couldn't have been older than 10 when he joined the pirates. I've chosen to make it so that he was 9 when he left, meaning Kagura was 5._

 _Follows, favorites, and reviews mean the world to me! Ask questions, point out errors, tell me about the characters you like and the ones you don't, let me know what you want to see more of, or even just shoot me a "pls update"—I love to hear what you guys have to say._

 _Next time:_ Don't Bring Your Bazooka with You on Vacation If You're Not Going to Use It _!_


	3. Vacation

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 3: Don't Bring Your Bazooka with You on Vacation If You're Not Going to Use It

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: This chapter is a little more intense than the other two. It's nice to get some action going, right?_

 _That said, I'd like to put a warning that_ _ **there is some violence/fighting in this chapter**_ _. Without spoiling anything, let me just say that it's pretty brief, not likely to be upsetting to the average person, and nowhere near as bad as some of the stuff that's been in_ Gintama _. I don't think it's enough to warrant an M rating, but please let me know if you disagree._

* * *

"I'm sorry, sir, but pets aren't allowed on this spaceline. If you want to bring your—dog? Is that a dog?" The terminal agent, a harassed-looking man with thinning hair, eyed Sadaharu warily. "—Well, if you want to bring it on the flight, you'll have to buy another ticket."

It was practically a miracle that they'd made it this far through terminal security with the massive dog in tow. Sougo was still half-hoping that the trip could be cancelled, but at this point it was unlikely.

"Ah…you've got it wrong, mister. This isn't a pet, it's a dog-skin rug." Gintoki, who was seeing Sougo and Kagura off, patted Sadaharu. "It also functions as a kotatsu."

"Is that so…" The terminal agent looked dubious, but the presence of several threatening members of the Shinsengumi seemed to convince him that the best course of action was not to make trouble. "Well, your seats are printed on your tickets. I suppose you can keep your…kotatsu…in the aisle."

At the agent's dubious approval, Kagura jumped up and grabbed hold of Sadaharu's fur to try to pull herself up onto his back again. Obedient, the dog sat down, but Kagura was still having trouble getting up.

Sougo let a snicker escape him. It was still strange to reconcile this helpless child with the Kagura he knew.

Unfortunately, she had caught his laugh and was now glaring at him and tugging at the fabric of his uniform pant leg. "Up."

"Did you say something, shrimp?"

Just like her older self, the current Kagura wasn't particularly fond of Sougo. It was probably his fault. Over these past few days, he hadn't made much effort to conceal his reluctance to take her on this trip. Diplomatic missions were always boring, and it didn't help that he was going to have to babysit Kagura the whole time. The one saving grace was that the younger Kagura seemed like a relatively well-behaved child—not that Sougo knew much about kids.

"Pick me _up_ , uh-huh." The next yank would have pulled Sougo's pants down if he hadn't been wearing a belt. Kagura was small for her age, tiny even, but she was still a Yato and had the strength to match.

Sougo had to make a conscious effort to restrain the sadistic remark that had risen to his lips. That was another thing… At least if he had to travel with the 15-year-old Kagura, he wouldn't have to hold back on his natural S tendencies.

"Fine." He reached down to Kagura and picked her up to place her on his back. Her arms snaked down to wrap around his neck. Was it just his imagination, or was she trying to choke him? He stepped forward to the landing dock for ships, Sadaharu and the rest following close behind.

"Excuse me, sir." A hand on Gintoki's arm prevented him from advancing. The terminal agent cleared his throat. "No guests are allowed past this point. Please say your goodbyes here."

"Ah…here, take these, Soichirou-kun. And you take this, Kagura-chan. It's your 15-year-old self's diary." Gintoki passed the luggage he had been carrying to Sougo and a thick journal to Kagura.

"Wow, I didn't know Kagura kept something useful like that. Can she even read at this age?" said Shinpachi.

"Well, it's convenient for the sake of the plot," Gintoki responded.

He reached over Sougo's shoulder to pat Kagura on the head. "I guess this is goodbye, Kagura-chan! Stay safe and don't cause trouble with the sadist. And when you turn back, don't let him get too friendly with the girls in Oukoku. That kind of do-S requires supervision, or he'll end up wasting the taxpayers' money on dirty things."

"'Kay!" Kagura (who had understood approximately 27% of what Gintoki had just said) replied. "Bye, Gin-chan!"

Otae, who had come along with her brother to see Kagura off, smacked Gintoki so hard his teeth rearranged themselves. "Don't say weird things to Kagura-chan! Kagura-chan, be a good girl and come home soon."

"See you soon, Kagura-chan," Shinpachi added.

"Bye-bye Tae-chan! Bye, glasses-kun!" Kagura waved at the two siblings whose house she'd been sleeping at for the past few days.

"G-glasses-kun…" Defeated, Shinpachi turned to leave with Gintoki.

Otae rushed to her brother to console him. With a rushed, "Bye, Sougo! Be good!", Kondou raced after her (having accompanied them under the pretense of saying goodbye to his underling so that he could stalk Otae in broad daylight). Yamazaki and Hijikata followed.

Sougo watched them walk away for a moment. It would only be two weeks or so until he saw them again, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd been away for so long. An odd feeling.

"Let's go?" Kagura asked.

"Yeah."

When the three of them (dog included) reached their seats, Kagura dropped down from Sougo's back to sit and Sadaharu squeezed his way into the aisle. Sougo drew down his eye mask and wondered if he could just sleep through the trip. How much trouble could Kagura get into on a secure spacecraft, anyway? If she was bored, she could always play with the "kotatsu" they'd brought along or read her older self's diary. _If_ she could even read.

No, it would be impossible to just sleep the trip away. He'd have to go into a coma to stay unconscious for the week or so it would take for this spaceship to reach the Oukoku solar system. The brat would have to eat at some point. Gintoki had mentioned that despite being half the size of her 15-year-old self, Kagura had retained her appetite.

A clicking sound came from Sougo's left. He pushed up the eye mask to see Kagura fiddling with her seatbelt. "Oh, you can't even do that by yourself?"

Kagura's cheeks pinked. "Shut up, sadist."

"Brat, do you even know what that means?"

"Your name." Kagura had heard the police officer being called a lot of things, but "sadist" was the most common moniker.

Sougo felt a vein pop out on his forehead. "My name isn't 'sadist'."

"Is it Soichirou-kun?" Kagura had heard Gin-chan call the man "Soichirou-kun" a lot. At least that one sounded like a name.

"No, don't go picking up weird habits from Danna. My name is Sougo. Sou-go."

"Sou-go. Sougo. Sougo-san. Sougo-kun," Kagura tested it out.

It was odd for Sougo to hear Kagura use his given name. Had the normal Kagura ever said it? He couldn't remember.

Kagura was still clicking the two halves of the seatbelt together, trying to get them to attach. Sougo rolled his eyes. "You really can't buckle your seatbelt by yourself? Lame."

"Stupid sadist."

"I said that's not my name."

The flight attendants were going around preparing for liftoff. "Give that to me." Sougo said, gesturing toward the clasp of the seatbelt. When it didn't look like she was going to give it to him, he plucked it out of her hands—

"Hey!"

—and buckled it for her. She glared at him, embarrassed that she'd needed to be helped, but said nothing.

"Say thanks, shrimp."

"Thanks, shrimp," she retorted. Oh well. Kagura was Kagura, kid or otherwise. "Hey, sadist…"

"It's Sougo." He pulled his eye mask down, preparing to take a nap.

Kagura ignored him. "You know the big Kagura, uh-huh."

"Sort of." Their relationship was…hard to define. Technically, he'd proposed 'marriage' to the older Kagura during the Reaper Arc, but this kid didn't need to know that.

"Is she your friend?"

That was an easy answer. "No."

"How come… Then, how come you're helping me?"

"Dunno. The chief is punishing me for sleeping on the job, I guess." When Kagura didn't respond, he shrugged. "The older version of you is loud and stubborn and annoying and…strong. She's always ready to fight. She doesn't give up and doesn't lose. I guess we're kind of rivals, but…I'd be bored if I had to wait ten years to fight with her again."

Kagura was too quiet, unusually so. Sougo pushed up his eye mask to check her reaction to his little speech.

She was sleeping.

"Wake up."

She didn't.

"Wake up, China girl." He pinched her cheek.

"Owww!" It was a petty revenge, not particularly satisfying, but it would have to do for now. As Kagura glared at him with teary eyes, he pulled down his eye mask and started counting Hijikata corpses.

Five hours later, he woke to the sound of people screaming.

At first he thought it part of the dream he was having, which could conceivably have included screams (Hijikata's screams). Once he realized it wasn't, however, it took only a fraction of a second for his soldier's instincts to kick in.

He leapt to his feet, removed his eye mask, and drew his sword. Some kind of shock had hit the spaceship, and people's luggage was falling out of the overhead compartments. Sadaharu was on his feet in the aisle, growling at the front of the craft where the impact had come from.

Where was Kagura?

"Brat? Where are you?" Sougo called. Could she be in the bathroom? Talk about bad timing. The other passengers were rioting, and there were so many people in the aisle that he couldn't move freely.

Another shock slammed into the ship and it rocked drunkenly. Sougo's back collided with the side of the chair and he had to cough out a breath before he could steady himself.

The woman in the seat across the aisle was panicking, maybe hyperventilating, and she grabbed his shoulder with inch-long acrylic talons. "You're a cop, aren't you? Do something!"

Sougo cursed and pried off her hand before her nails had the chance to puncture skin. "Sit down. The girl, the little girl who was sitting with me, where did she go?"

"What? What girl?"

"The little girl with the red hair and the umbrella! Where did she go?"

The woman gaped uselessly. "I don't…"

 _Damnit_. "Get out of my way," he told her, attempting to push past to the back of the ship.

A third impact, and it was all Sougo could to to stay on his feet. The woman shrieked. "Oh my _god!_ You're in the Shinsengumi! Why aren't you doing anything? We're going to d—"

A new voice cut in over the din, oddly measured, even cheerful. "Now, now, everyone, stay calm and return to your seats. Panicking will only make this more difficult."

The hairs on Sougo's arms stood up under the sleeves of his suit jacket. That voice…it felt like danger. Sougo forcibly pushed the woman back into her seat and swiveled to face the front of the aircraft.

The figure who appeared from the the darkened chamber that led to the cockpit was smiling, his eyes opened just enough to lock onto Sougo's outfit. "That's a Shinsengumi uniform, isn't it? But you don't look like the demon vice chief."

"I thank God every day that I don't look like Hijikata." Sougo eased his voice into a carefree tone to match the intruder's, but his grip on his sword tightened.

There was something familiar about the man standing before him. Something more than the Chinese-style clothing and the umbrella that the Yato ( _fuck, of course it's the fucking Yato_ ) favored. The coral-red hair, the white skin, and the barest hint of blue eyes—just like _hers_. Maybe that coloring was common among their species?

But he'd only ever seen two Yato who looked like that. Kagura…and the one he'd fought in the Shogun Assassination arc. The memory was blurred by confusion, pain, and the chaos of the explosion that had ended the fight, but there was no question—as badly as Sougo had wanted a rematch, this was absolute shit timing. Why was this Yato here? Why was he asking about Hijikata?

 _And where the hell is Kagura?_

"Is your vice chief on this flight, Shinsengumi-kun?"

"No. The vice chief was deemed an incompetent bastard, so I'm taking over this assignment for him."

"I guess my information was wrong, then. Ah, what a disappointment," the Yato sighed.

Sougo didn't let his guard down. It didn't look like the space criminal recognized him, but the resemblance was unmistakeable.

"Wait, Commander. We could still use him." Another man came out from the front, followed by at least half a dozen others, a mix of Yato and other Amanto. Pirates? And the space criminal was their commander? If they tried to fight, Sougo wouldn't be able to retaliate without endangering the civilians on the ship.

"You think so, Abuto? Well, if you say so. Let's go, Shinsengumi-kun." The Yato clearly know the score as well. Sougo couldn't fight back in the cramped cabin, but if he waited until they got to the open deck above, he'd at least have a chance. Kagura… Wherever she was, Kagura would have to wait. This situation was too dangerous for her to get involved. Sheathing his sword, he allowed the group of pirates to march him up onto the deck.

…

Kamui had been looking forward to testing his strength against the 'demon vice chief'. It was a rare occasion for an Earthling to put up much of a fight against a Yato, but Kamui had heard good things about Hijikata Toushirou from the men who had fought him in Kyou. If he held back, he might be able to get a good fight out of the man who was supposedly the brains of the operation.

But.

The vice chief was not present. Instead, Kamui had been forced to settle for this…underling. It was disappointing. On a commercial spacecraft like this, there wouldn't be anyone worth fighting. Abuto thought they could take this one as a hostage to gain inside information on the rest, but if there wasn't a fight in it for Kamui, it was a waste of his time.

 _Or is it?_

The man they'd captured was young, but Kamui knew better than to overlook someone based on youth alone. Judging by his uniform, he was probably a unit captain in the Shinsengumi, which meant his skills would be considerable. And his eyes…he had good eyes. A murderer's eyes. Familiar. Maybe Kamui would get to test his strength after all.

When they reached the upper deck, Sougo shook off the hold of the Amanto escorting him and drew his blade again. It was obvious the pirate crew had seen this coming—they hadn't even tried to restrain him.

"You won't come quietly, then?" Kamui asked, already knowing the answer.

"Sorry," Sougo sneered, "but it would be a pain in the ass if I failed two missions in a row."

"Go easy on him, Kamui. We still need this guy for information," sighed Abuto. He wasn't going to try to stop the impulsive kid from fighting (there weren't enough prosthetic arms in the world), but he had a responsibility to at least remind Kamui of their assignment.

"If you go easy on me, I'll shove my sword so far up your ass that it cuts a fork into your tongue." Ah, that was nice. It had been over five hours since Sougo had been able to make a genuinely sadistic remark like that.

"You're kind of vulgar, aren't you?" Kamui was already racing forward to clash with Sougo, umbrella slashing toward Sougo's sword arm.

The Yato was fast, unbelievably fast. Sougo's eyes could barely keep up with his movements. So far, he appeared to be listening to the other pirate and avoiding killing blows, but Sougo was still struggling to keep up, relying on instinct to avoid the attacks.

Sougo hadn't forgotten how powerful his opponent had been the first time they fought, but the space criminal was proving to be even stronger than he remembered. Before thirty seconds had passed, Sougo was on the defense, focusing on staying light on his feet as the Yato rained down bullets and blows.

Kamui, on the other hand, was enjoying himself. The policeman was an exceptional swordsman. It wasn't every day that Kamui got to measure up against so much raw talent. A diamond in the rough, hm? It was getting hard to hold himself back.

Sougo planted his feet and gritted his teeth as a slash from Kamui's bare hands shoved him toward the sturdy railing of the deck—another meter, and he'd have fallen outside the bubble of atmosphere projected around the spaceship. He was gaining ground here and there when he took advantage of Kamui's reluctance to go for a fatal strike, but he was still outranked.

Kamui pulled forward and landed a kick to Sougo's stomach that sent him flying back toward the entrance, and he resisted the urge to retch at the impact. In the split second it took for him to get to his feet, Kamui's fist landed on his forearm and he heard a sound like a branch snapping.

The pain…shit, his vision was getting hazy. At least it wasn't his dominant wrist that had been sprained. He swung out with a single powerful strike followed by a series of quick slashes. Had he landed even a single scratch on Kamui? It was difficult to tell. The pain was dulling his senses.

 _No. No. This is nothing._ It had hurt more when Kagura broke his ankle in the Yagyuu Arc. It was the only time he could remember ever having passed out, not from wounds or exhaustion, but from pain alone. She'd fucking used him as a weapon, swinging him around by his broken leg and then proceeding to beat him half to death. _That_ was pain. This was nothing.

He blocked another kick from the space criminal, who tipped his head to the side in annoyance. "Are you getting tired already, Shinsengumi-kun? I've been holding back, but this is going to be done soon."

"This ship is pretty well-built, isn't it?" Sougo asked.

"Hm? What do you mean?"

"We've been fighting for a while, but look—almost nothing on this ship is broken. That's uncommon, right?"

"You're right! Wow, Earth-built ships are pretty high-quality, huh?"

 _What the hell are these two talking about in the middle of a battle?_ thought Abuto.

"Well…did you have a point, Shinsengumi-kun? Or were you just trying to prolong the inevitable?"

"I wouldn't say anything was inevitable. I've been holding back too, trying not to destroy this ship, but…" Sougo brought the flat side of his sword to his mouth and licked the blood from the blade, red eyes glinting. "I don't think I need to worry about that, do I?"

Wait…the blood? Kamui raised an eyebrow. So far, that sword hadn't even touched him, had it?—

He'd barely finished the thought when a line of fire shot through his shoulder. In the next instant, blood exploded from the wound. _When did he-_

Sougo's fighting style had changed, and he was using quick, forceful strokes that left Kamui no opportunity to let his mind wander. Unburdened by concern for the civilians on the spaceship, the policeman looked like a different person, no longer an agent of justice so much as an executioner. He was fast enough to match Kamui's movements. Raw talent indeed…the bloodthirsty killer in front of Kamui was in no way the same creature as the one he'd been before.

 _This_ was the fight Kamui had been looking forward to!

Sougo could feel Kamui drop his reservations. No more shying away from death blows, then. Kamui was a monster, but Sougo was no different… Every punch or kick the space criminal landed was returned with a slash of the policeman's blade. If either of them let their attention slip for even a moment, the other would not hesitate to kill.

It was lucky, then, that Kagura's scream distracted both of them.

" _LET GO OF ME!_ "

Sougo and Kamui both turned away from their fight to the voice. The sounds of a struggle chased the scream from the entrance to the lower cabin of the ship.

"Kagura—!" Sougo took off toward the stairs. What had that shrimp gotten herself into?

 _What did he just say?_ Curious, Kamui followed.

…

Kagura was panicking. Seriously panicking. She'd been in the bathroom when the other ship hit, and when she came out, Sougo was nowhere to be found. She'd asked the scary Amanto guys if they'd seen a man in a police uniform, but they just told her to sit down and be quiet. One of the other passengers had said that the pirates ( _pirates!_ ) had taken a man like that to the upper deck.

She'd just wanted to make sure he was there. It wasn't like she wanted him to protect her or something. She was a Yato girl, after all! No, she was… She was… She was just going up there to protect _him_. As thanks for taking her on a vacation.

The pirates guarding the cabin didn't seem to believe her. Either way, they thought she was making trouble.

"You know what happens to little girls who speak out of turn," one of them had said. But Kagura didn't know. Sadaharu didn't seem to know either, because he'd growled at the pirates in her defense.

And then one of them had hit Sadaharu. Hard. Sadaharu had yelped in pain, and the sound made Kagura's blood feel like it was burning and frozen at the same time. She'd tried to escape up the stairs to Sougo (because he was the only adult she knew and she didn't know what was happening and right now _she needed him_ ), but one of the pirates—a Yato like her, she could tell by his umbrella and the way he smelled like old bloodstains—had grabbed her arm and pulled on it so hard she thought it would break. It didn't break, but she'd heard a popping noise and her arm hurt _so bad_ and she couldn't move it and she'd kicked him but he _wouldn't let go-_

" _LET GO OF ME!_ " she yelled as another one of the pirates, this one an Amanto, put a knife to her neck. She wanted to cry. She'd never been in this situation before, never been without someone to help her. Usually it was Papi or Nii-chan, but they weren't there.

No one was there to help her.

There was no time for crying. She was a Yato girl, wasn't she?

…

Sougo reached the top of the stairwell and was ready to race down and deliver a massacre, but Kamui stopped him with one hand on his shoulder. _Shit_. He'd gone to her without thinking and forgotten his opponent. Sougo made to raise his sword, but Kamui's voice stopped him yet again.

"Hey, that little girl—you called her Kagura, didn't you? That's odd…" Kamui's blue eyes were open, and his grin was fixed on the scene below. The Yato pirate was holding the little girl's arm (was her arm dislocated? That angle couldn't be natural), while another Amanto pushed a knife against her throat.

A bead of red appeared against the knife's edge. Sougo felt acid in his veins, and would have kicked away Kamui to get to her if he thought he could. The criminal was watching the scene with interest, if the look on his face could properly be called interest. Maybe it was amusement. It was hard to tell.

Another line of blood stained Kagura's pale throat as the knife pushed deeper. Sougo could see something come over Kagura, something he'd never seen in her before.

Oh, yeah.

He'd almost forgotten, but at the end of the day, Kagura was a Yato too.

Kagura's teeth sunk into the hand of the Amanto holding the knife, deep enough and hard enough to crack bone. When the Amanto hissed and dropped the machete, Kagura's fist crashed into his chin, snapping his head back through the solid metal wall behind.

It had happened in an instant, fast enough that as the Yato holding Kagura's arm jerked her back, she was able to swipe the dropped machete off the floor and drag it in a rusty silver arc in his direction.

The pirate fell to his knees, then tipped forward, hand flitting from the stump of his other arm to the gaping wound in his stomach. Kagura pulled herself free of the severed arm, and the sound of the fingers breaking echoed in the otherwise silent stairwell. The arm slapped wetly against the ground to join the body it had come from.

A corpse now, or it would be soon.

Kagura pulled down the sleeve of her shirt to wipe at the blood that had sprayed on her face.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Had Sougo just witnessed?

Beside him, Kamui's eyes widened. _No way. Is that…?_

…

Something was wrong. Abuto had known his commander quite a long time, and over the years, he'd become attuned to Kamui's different expressions. It could be difficult to discern actual thoughts from the commander's face, given that he was almost always smiling, but Abuto thought he had become fairly adept at it.

And now he _knew_ something was wrong, because Kamui was beaming like a kid on Christmas morning.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Wow! That went from 0 to 100 real quick. If you couldn't tell, the fight scene between Kamui and Sougo was the first I'd ever written, and it's currently my least favorite fight scene in this story (lol). It's all uphill from here!_

 _There's some nitty gritty stuff about the logistics of Kamui and Takasugi's partnership post the disbanding of the Harusame in the Rakuyou arc that I'm not going to bother getting into here, but if you want an explanation for this or anything else, feel free to ask._

 _As always, your follows, favorites, and reviews are a huge motivation for me. The best part about posting fanfic is hearing from other fans who love_ Gintama _, so let me know what you think!_

 _Next time, Chapter 4:_ Bad Things Happen to Good People, but Bad Things Also Happen to Bad People


	4. Bad Things

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 4: Bad Things Happen to Good People, but Bad Things Also Happen to Bad People

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Into the belly of the beast!_

* * *

Having recovered from the hit he'd sustained, Sadaharu bounded up from the cabin to lick Kagura's face, undaunted by the splatters of blood drying over her skin and clothing.

"Sadaharu…" Kagura was close to tears. This was bad, wasn't it? Really bad. She'd been scared out of her mind, and she'd felt something rise up in her. Instinct. But it wasn't like she'd done something evil, right? Those men had been about to _kill_ her. She'd had no choice.

At the top of the stairs, Sougo shook Kamui's grip loose and stepped down to where Kagura was sitting. "What the hell were you doing, China? If you're trying to kill, you should be aiming for the neck, not the stomach. Don't Yato parents teach their kids anything?"

"Sadist!" Kagura jumped to her feet and tackled Sougo in a hug that would have deprived a lesser man of oxygen.

"Oi, don't get my uniform dirty. You look pretty nasty right now," Sougo said, knowing she would ignore him. Same old Kagura, huh? Except for the savagery, maybe. Gintoki or Kondou might be worried for the fate of the little girl's soul right now, but Sougo decided to chalk it up as a win. After all—she was alive, wasn't she?

"That kid, did you say her name was Kagura?" Kamui asked, quietly enough that he might have been talking to himself. The name, and her hair and eyes…so familiar, but it couldn't be. He jumped down the stairs to get a closer look.

Sadaharu, sensing a threat, bared his teeth in a protective growl. Kamui grinned and reached out to pat the dog, who in turn snapped at him. "There, there, mutt. I'm just looking for my little sister."

Kagura blinked at the sound of a voice—smooth and self-assured and so _familiar_ —and looked up at the smiling man who'd come down from the deck. With his long orange hair and blue eyes, he looked almost like Mami, but not. Her eyes widened. "Onii-chan?"

"Is that really you, Kagura? You're smaller than I remembered."

"Nii-chan!" Kagura detached herself from Sougo and ran toward Kamui to leap into his arms, a practiced move within their family that he, miraculously, hadn't forgotten in the ten years that had passed. He picked her up with ease and she clung sloth-like to the front of his shirt.

"It looks like my cute little sister is a kid once again. How did that happen, huh, Kagura?" Kamui patted Kagura's head as she rubbed her face on the grayish fabric of his cloak.

"Nii-chan's the one who got bigger," Kagura mumbled.

 _Wait—of all the rabid Yato in the universe,_ this guy _is the 'Nii-chan' Kagura's been going on about since she was turned into a kid?_ Sougo blew out an exasperated breath.

This mission was going from bad to worse. It wasn't enough that he'd been forced to take over as a diplomatic envoy in Hijikata's place. It wasn't enough that he had to take care of a 5-year-old the whole time. It wasn't even enough that goddamn _pirates_ had attacked the ship. No, for some reason the universe had decided to make it so that the main enemy threat was a _blood relative_ of Kagura's. What had he done to deserve this level of bad luck? Could it be karma?

Nah, that was impossible. Sougo couldn't recall ever having done anything to earn karmic punishment.

Wait—this situation could work to his advantage, actually. If the space criminal genuinely cared about Kagura, he could use her as a bargaining chip…

…Or not. If she was a teenager as usual, he wouldn't hesitate to betray her. He'd sell her to a circus just to see the look on her face when she kicked her way out. (Now that he thought about it, he should try that once she got back to normal.)

But with her as a kid, he couldn't do anything. Annoying.

Kamui, on the other hand, was exhilarated. Was this child really the weak crybaby Kagura he knew? She'd taken down two of his pirates, both of them four times her size. Not to mention one of them was a Yato. His little baby sister had beaten an adult Yato. Sure, she'd been lucky enough to take them by complete surprise, and as a 15-year-old she probably could have done the same thing without being injured, but this Kagura looked no older than 4 or 5. The gore staining her clothing was proof of her strength.

So this was Kagura's potential.

He put an arm under her legs to support her as she held on to his shirt. Her dislocated arm was still hanging limply by her side. "Kagura, I'm going to fix your shoulder. It'll hurt at first, but it'll feel better afterwards, okay? I'll count to three."

Kagura nodded and gripped Kamui's collar with her good hand.

"One." Without waiting, Kamui snapped Kagura's arm back into its socket.

 _What a sadist. A kindred spirit?_ Sougo thought as Kagura yowled in pain. The shock—combined with the stress of the previous situation—was too much for the poor kid. Her muscles went slack as consciousness left her.

"Whoops." Kamui adjusted her position against his chest so she wouldn't fall as she fainted. "Kagura's had a long day, hasn't she?"

He turned to Sougo. "Do you know how she got like this?"

"What do you mean? A Yato brat with a big mouth? I thought she was born like that."

"Her age, not her personality," Kamui said. He knew her then, this Shinsengumi officer. It looked like they'd been traveling together, heading for Oukoku—a planet known as a trading hub for exotic species and materials from around the galaxy. "Did my little sister get her hands on something dangerous?"

Sougo recalled the way Kagura had hunted and eaten those fish, one after the other, until the pond was nearly empty. "She's the dangerous one."

"She doesn't seem to have any of the memories of her older self," Kamui mused. If she did, she wouldn't be so eager to cuddle up to him. Sougo gave a non-committal shrug in response.

"Why is she with you? What are you, her babysitter?"

"For that beast? More like a zookeeper."

Kamui laughed. _Vulgar, but at least it's entertaining_. The policeman was focused on Kagura, attention diverted enough that Kamui didn't have trouble smacking his umbrella across the back of his neck just hard enough to knock him out. As Sougo crumpled to the ground, Kamui felt a twinge of regret. He'd like to finish his fight, but…

In her sleep, Kagura mumbled something like "do-S" and punched upward. Kamui tilted his head to avoid the blow.

…he'd found something more interesting.

Kamui stepped back up to the deck, carrying the swordsman like a sack of flour on one arm and Kagura in the other. Abuto frowned at him. "Who's that kid? Another hostage?"

"Nope. You've met a couple times—you should remember her." Kamui smiled. "This is my sister, Kagura."

"Did you finally lose your mind, commander? Your sister should be…" Abuto tried to recall Kagura's age the last time they'd met. "14? Or…15, right?"

"No, this is her. Abuto, go down to the cabin and look for her umbrella, she'll need it."

"You're actually taking this kid with you? Even if that's really the young lady-" (and Abuto had his doubts about this particular assertion) "-there's no reason to bring her along."

"What am I supposed to do? Leave my helpless little sister here to fend for herself?"

In her sleep, the kid reached up to grab Kamui's braid with one hand and pull on his cheek with the other. Kamui's only reaction was to drop the unconscious Shinsengumi captain he was holding so that he could gently unfurl her fingers.

There was red finger mark on Kamui's cheek where Kagura had pinched him.

It was official. Abuto's commander had finally gone crazy. The only thing left to do was follow his orders and hope for the best.

…

Kamui knew how strong Kagura was. When they'd fought in Iga and then in Rakuyou, he'd seen how much she'd grown since their shared childhood. The crybaby sister he'd left behind was, unbelievably, on the same level as the greatest of the Yato—himself included. In his absence she'd become a worthy opponent. Almost.

Well, she could be, if she stopped denying her Yato blood. Kamui knew that no matter how much she claimed to dislike violence, she was capable of the same bloodlust as the rest of them. Abuto was the only enemy to have ever witnessed her in her awakened state, and he wouldn't have lived to tell the tale if she hadn't gained control of her instincts. All strong Yato could succumb to an awakened state—Kamui had too, in Rakuyou—but Kagura had built an iron wall between her two selves.

It was unhealthy. Did she think she could play the part of a human by locking away her most natural instincts? She could pretend to be a normal girl in the earth family she'd found as long as she wanted, but she would never really belong with them.

He'd thought there was nothing to do about it. After everything that had happened between them, he had no place in her life. Being near her would just mean having to watch and wait for the wall separating her usual self and her Yato blood to inevitably break.

Now, though, he had an opportunity. Kagura had somehow turned into her younger self, the girl she'd been before she went to earth and buried her Yato side. This younger version of Kagura didn't fear violence, didn't hate the part of herself that needed blood like it needed air. What he'd witnessed in the stairwell had started in self-defense, but it hadn't ended there.

If there was a chance, just a chance, that Kamui could find a way to make sure that Kagura could never again try to hide away the Yato in herself, he would take it. After all, how could he ever become the strongest if his own little sister was running away from her true potential? The 15-year-old wasn't a match for him, but if she was able to access her abilities, she'd at least be worth fighting.

Now, after all these years, he'd forgotten how much she moved around in her sleep. Whenever he tried to put her down, she would grab hold of his shirt collar and pull closer in protest. After a few tries, Kamui resigned himself to letting Kagura monopolize him until she woke up. He was getting strange looks from his men, but at least she wasn't heavy.

As instructed, Abuto had gone back for Kagura's umbrella and picked up what he assumed was her bag as well. He'd also recovered the unconscious Shinsengumi captain from where Kamui had dropped him. Really, the Earthling looked more like he was sleeping than unconscious. There was a snot bubble inflating and deflating from his nose as he slept.

"I'll put the hostage in a cell," Abuto said. It was odd seeing his commander like this. If that child really was a younger version of the commander's little sister (by now, Abuto was just trying not to think about the possibility that Kamui had inexplicably snatched a random child from the spacecraft), it was strange to see him actually show affection to her. Although Kamui was no longer actively trying to kill the remaining members of his family, he wasn't friendly with them either.

Yesterday Abuto would have sworn that no sane person could ever describe Kamui as "gentle", but the look on the commander's face right now was proving him wrong. Maybe the little girl's presence was a reminder of what their relationship used to be. Come to think of it, the first time Abuto and Kamui met, Kamui had been trying to protect her.

"Don't," came Kamui's belated reply. "I don't plan on babysitting Kagura the whole time; I'll let him do it."

"'The whole time'? What do you mean? I thought we were meeting Takasugi tomorrow to transfer the hostage."

Kamui grinned. "Not quite. We're going to take a little detour first. The trip to Oukoku shouldn't take more than a week, right?"

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: ...I don't really have anything to say about this chapter. I'm more interested in you guys' thoughts. Remember to follow, favorite, and review! The #1 thing that inspires me to work on revising this story so I can post it is reading your reviews._

 _Next time, Chapter 5:_ Children Are Terrible Listeners Except When It Comes to Picking up on Dirty Words


	5. Children

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 5: Children Are Terrible Listeners Except When It Comes to Picking up on Dirty Words

…

 _ **Note**_ _: Sorry about the delay on this chapter—it's midterm season and I've been up to my neck in school stuff. The next chapter will be posted a week early as thanks for waiting._

* * *

When Kamui came to the heavily-guarded room that had been offered up for Kagura and the Shinsengumi captain, he hesitated before entering. He'd been planning to interrogate the policeman, but at the moment he honestly couldn't care less about the Shinsengumi's movements. They'd lost power after what happened with Tokugawa Shige Shige and had barely withstood the pressure to disband. Shinsuke still seemed to think the group posed a threat, but Kamui disagreed.

He nodded to the Amanto pirates keeping watch and entered. The policeman stood and reached instinctively to his hip where his sword usually hung, but his fingers met thin air—Abuto had confiscated the weapon. Kamui shook his head. "No need for that, Shinsengumi-kun. I'm just here to give Kagura a ride to Oukoku."

"Too afraid to fight me a third time? Or have you forgotten?" Sougo sneered.

Right, a third time. Kamui hadn't given it much thought, but this man was indeed the 'Earth policeman' from the Shogun assassination mission last year. Twice he'd fought Kamui and twice he'd remained alive. Hadn't Kamui noticed that those red eyes were the eyes of a killer? How did he know Kagura? "What's your name, Earth policeman?"

"You first, space criminal." Childish, sure, but it just wasn't in Sougo's nature to give without taking first. Things were looking bad. The pirates had taken his sword and bazooka (and after he'd gone through so much red tape to be able to take it on the flight). Sougo didn't know why they'd afforded him the comfort of a real room with two beds rather than the cell he'd expected, but it must have something to do with Kagura.

Speaking of which, Kagura had just emerged from the bathroom, still half-asleep and struggling to rake a brush through her tangled hair. "Nii-chan's name is Kamui. Sadist is Sougo." Yawning, she sat on the bed opposite Sougo's.

"Oh, she spoiled it. Read the atmosphere, brat."

"Why did she say that?" Kamui's usual smile was the same, but his tone had changed.

Sougo shrugged. "Like I know what goes through her head."

Kamui wasn't listening. "Why exactly did my 5-year-old sister just call you a sadist?"

Ah, that. Well, Sougo could see how bad it looked on his part for the kid to have mentioned that particular detail. "She picked that up from someone else. Probably Danna—ah, I mean Gintoki. She doesn't know what it means."

Kamui's smile remained, but he looked annoyed. "Why were you two traveling together?"

"You've seen her, right? She's not supposed to be that small. I'm looking for a cure." Without thinking, Sougo rubbed the swollen joint of his fractured wrist. "I get why you took me, but you could have left her on the civilian ship. Why would you kidnap her too?"

Kamui didn't have to answer. As long as they were on his battleship, as long as Sougo's arm was injured, as long as Kagura was a liability, Kamui had the upper hand and they both knew it. But… it wouldn't hurt to tell the policeman just a little.

He sat down on the bed next to his sister as she struggled with her brush. "Kagura," Kamui addressed her, "what did it feel like when you were being threatened by those pirates yesterday?"

Kagura was silent, still dozing off for a moment. Then, "Scary."

"The pirates scared you?"

"Yeah!"

"Then what did it feel like when you fought them off?" Kamui prompted.

"Like…like…" Kagura struggled to find the words. "Like I was s'pposed to. Even though Papi says fighting's bad." She looked up at Kamui for affirmation.

"It's okay, Kagura. You were defending yourself." Kamui knew what she was feeling, a feeling that couldn't be expressed with a 5-year-old's vocabulary. No doubt, in the moment Kagura had attacked the two pirates, she'd felt like what she was doing was right, or 'meant to be', not just out of a need to protect herself but also because she was a Yato: she craved violence and couldn't help it. "Sougo, do you know the older Kagura pretty well?"

"Well enough." To be exact, he'd known her for years now, and he'd fought with her (on opposite sides and the same) so many times that the line between rivals and allies was either too blurred to make out or meaningless—but Kamui didn't need to know that.

"Do you know about the 'awakened' state a Yato can achieve?"

Interesting. If there was anyone who needed awakening, it would be the China girl. "Never heard of it."

"The Yato need blood like humans need food or sex. Fighting instinct is part of us. Stronger Yato like me have to limit our natural instincts so they don't overpower rational thought. If I lose my sense of reason, I have the potential to become much more powerful and reckless, like a beast."

"So a demon like you has the ability to become even stronger? How inconvenient for the rest of us."

Kamui didn't react to the insult. "For Kagura it's worse. She suppresses almost all of her Yato instincts. Living on earth, doing odd jobs with the samurai, she's trying to be human. By refusing to indulge her instincts, she's only making her awakened state more monstrous."

"If you're saying that the Yato instinct is the desire to fight, I'd say that China indulges it plenty." When Kagura was her usual self, she and Sougo could rarely spend half an hour in the same room without some kind of violence occurring. As far as Sougo knew, Kagura fought often and enjoyed it.

"I don't know what kind of battles my sister gets into on Earth, but there's no way it's on the same scale as what I do on a regular basis."

 _That's right_ , Sougo thought. Kagura's brother was obviously living a bloodthirsty life as a pirate commander, and even her father was a legendary alien hunter. Whatever mischief Kagura got up to with the Yorozuya, she wouldn't see the same amount of action in a month as the other Yato did every day. "So what's your point? Kagura's not Yato enough?"

"It's the opposite," Kamui replied. "No matter how much Kagura tries to pretend she's not a Yato, she's still one of us. She's denied her nature so much that she's ridiculously strong when she's awakened, but she can only access that strength by losing her mind."

"Aren't you the same?"

"It's hard to explain in a way that a human would understand, but the way Kagura's…detached herself…limits what she can do in normal combat." Kamui paused briefly to think. "She's probably less than half as strong as she could be if she awakened. Unlike me, she has no middle ground between her instincts and rationality."

Sougo frowned. "You can't do anything about that, can you?"

"I'm not sure, but if she's like this… The Kagura right now hasn't tried to chain up her Yato side yet. Instead of taking care of her like I did when she was really this age, I can try to force her to confront her Yato side."

"'Instead of taking care of her?' Do you even realize what you're doing right now?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Seriously?" Smirking, Sougo gestured to Kamui.

"Ah—" Kamui blinked and set down the hairbrush he was holding. Kagura was dozing in his lap, hair brushed and twisted into her signature hairstyle. _When did that happen?_

It had been ten years since brushing Kagura's hair had been part of his morning routine, but muscle memory must have taken over. He hadn't just brushed her hair; he'd also braided it and arranged it in her signature twin buns… She hadn't asked for his help—taking care of the little girl was second nature.

Not once had he stopped to think about what he was doing or why.

Sougo smirked. "Old habits die hard, huh?"

 _Don't remind me_ , Kamui thought.

…

Later in the afternoon, Sougo blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he woke from a nap. The room was uncomfortably cool and the post-slumber daze dulled his senses. He'd fallen asleep with his fingers laced behind his head, and now he could feel a prickly numbness in his hands from lack of blood flow. He couldn't see Kagura while wearing his eye mask, but he could hear the light tap of her bare feet against the floor as she walked around the room.

What a boring day. For all Kamui's talk earlier about helping China embrace her dark side, he hadn't shown up since he left that morning. Sougo wished the Yato would come back and challenge him to a fight. It would be nice to settle things with at least one of those monster siblings.

It was a little odd, actually, how alike he and Kamui were. Both exemplary fighters, both around the same age, both connected to Kagura in complicated ways.

They had similar personalities, too. Sougo recalled the look in Kamui's eyes when they'd fought. His eyes had opened, sharpened, and he'd bared his teeth like an animal— a smile, but only by the loosest definition. Sougo could recognize the expression of someone who enjoyed making others suffer. He probably looked the exact same way when he was fighting.

Is that what Kamui wanted for his sister? Kagura liked fighting, but she wasn't sadistic or brutal like Sougo and Kamui. The space criminal could talk all he wanted about helping China, but in the end he was really just trying to make her like him.

In Sougo's opinion, it was a useless goal. China was violent enough without her older brother's help. The murderer's eyes that Sougo and Kamui shared…

Kagura shouldn't have eyes like that.

Sougo could feel the little girl sit down on the bed next to him. A small hand reached up and pushed the eye mask out of the way. "I'm hungry," she whined.

"Do I look like I have food on me?" They'd been given a morning meal earlier that was enough to last Sougo all day, but he wasn't surprised the gluttonous little girl was unsatisfied. Turning into a kid hadn't changed her appetite much.

"Tell Nii-chan to give me more, uh-huh."

Well, she clearly hadn't realized that they were both prisoners here. Or that her 'Nii-chan' was a pirate.

"Tell him yourself," said Sougo, closing his eyes again.

Kagura frowned and scooted closer to him. "Sadist."

No response.

"Hey, sadist. Hey. Sadist. Sadist. Hey, Sougo. Sougo. Sougo-"

"Shut up." Sougo flicked Kagura on her forehead, hard enough to startle her but not hard enough to really hurt. She yelped and snatched his good arm to sink her sharp teeth into the side of his hand.

" _Shi_ — Did you just _bite_ me!? I'm bleeding!"

"You hit me!"

"Want me to put a muzzle on you, brat?"

"I'm starving! I'm gonna starve to death, uh-huh!"

"Fine, you little—" He picked Kagura up like a squirming sack of flour and slung her over one shoulder, then strode out the (miraculously unlocked) entrance of the room. The Amanto guards started and drew their weapons, but Sougo ignored them. "This rabid puppy needs another feeding."

"Oji-san!" Kagura jumped down from Sougo's shoulder and ran past the dumbfounded guards to where she could see Abuto passing by down the hall.

"Oh? Young lady, is that you?" Abuto had come by when he heard voices from the room where he'd put the two prisoners. Now, the child Kamui claimed was his sister had run over to him and was pulling on his cloak. "Do you know who I am?"

"Nii-chan's friend."

"Is that so? Well, I suppose you don't need any more information than that… Is there a reason you're out of your room?"

"I'm starving to death, uh-huh."

Abuto frowned. "You didn't get food this morning?"

From back in the doorway to the room, Sougo spoke up. "That brat eats more for one meal than an average pack of wolves. One plate of food isn't going to satisfy her."

 _Ah, of course…_ Abuto recalled what he'd been speaking about with Kamui the other day. If she was anything like her brother, the prison rations she'd been given wouldn't be even a quarter of what she was used to consuming. "Think your brother would mind if I took you to get something else to eat?"

"Sougo too, uh-huh," came her reply.

"You want your friend to come with you, do you?" Abuto cast an eye to the police officer they'd kidnapped. "I don't think Kamui would be so forgiving if I let both of his pets out of their cage."

"You can leave me behind if you want," Sougo offered, "but I'm the type of pet that gets into trouble when it's by itself. You know, separation anxiety."

Well. Abuto had seen Sougo and Kamui fight back on the ship they'd taken him from, and he knew how strong the swordsman had proven himself to be. Even without a weapon, it wasn't a stretch to assume he'd be capable of overpowering the guards. Frankly, it was a surprise that he hadn't tried anything so far. If it was only Kagura's presence that was holding him back from causing trouble, then maybe it was better to just bring him. "I guess I'll let you stretch your legs, Shinsengumi." He motioned to the guards to let Sougo through.

Kamui, who had been taking a snack break in the kitchens, raised an eyebrow when Abuto, Kagura, and Sougo entered. Abuto shrugged sheepishly. "The young lady was hungry. Thought I'd let her and the police get a little fresh air."

Kamui didn't protest when they sat down at the 'chef's table' in the kitchen where he usually took his meals in the interest of efficiency.

"What do you want to eat, Kagura?" Abuto asked.

"Egg on rice." Kagura was already filling a bowl with an obscene amount of rice and reaching for an egg from a dish one of the kitchen staff had placed on the table. She cracked it roughly over the bowl, letting stray fragments of shell fall into the rice.

"Don't do it like that, Kagura. Let me help," Kamui interrupted, and he took the bowl from her.

Abuto watched, taken aback, as his bloodthirsty Yato captain fixed his little sister's meal and demonstrated to her the proper way to crack an egg. "Since your stomach gets sick easily, you should be careful with your food," Kamui said.

"Thanks, Nii-chan!" Kagura's words seemed to break Kamui out of his reverie, and the table lapsed into an awkward silence as Abuto tried to pretend he hadn't seen his commander doting on his kid sister and Sougo shook with quiet laughter.

Kamui's smile twitched. Having the younger Kagura around was bringing up memories of what their relationship was like when she was really 5 years old, when taking care of her was his duty. Even after everything…

Oblivious to the various internal conflicts playing out around her, Kagura satisfied herself with bowl after bowl of egg on rice. After that came vegetables, then meat, and for dessert a few different types of fruit the pirate ship had in stock. The kitchen staff, familiar with huge Yato appetites, kept the food coming until Kagura had gorged herself.

At last she pushed away her plate and sighed contentedly. Now it was time to ask the question that had been bothering her all day. "Hey Onii-chan?"

"Hm?"

"What's 'sex'?"

Abuto, who had been chewing on an orange slice, bit his tongue and spat blood.

It took Kamui a moment to recover. "…Where did you hear that, Kagura?" It was probably that earth policeman. She called him 'sadist', for fuck's sake. What had he been saying to her?

"Nii-chan said it. This morning, uh-huh."

Sougo was choking on his laughter. "Don't you remember, Kamui-kun? 'The Yato need blood like we need food or sex,' right? Your sister just wants to know what you mean."

Ah. That.

"Oi, Oi, idiot commander." Abuto put his head in his hands. "You can't go around saying stuff like that in front of children."

Kagura had been so tired that morning that Kamui hadn't thought about what he was saying. Apparently she'd actually been paying attention to their conversation…and of course 'sex' was the word she'd latched onto.

Kamui searched for an answer, but Abuto spoke first. "You're too little to know about sex, young lady."

"But I'm s'posed to be 15, uh-huh. Does the Big Kagura know what 'sex' is?"

 _Does she?_ Sougo wondered. Well, she lived with Danna, a man without a filter between his mouth and his brain. And she'd seen what men looked like naked (at least Kondou, since the chief lost his clothes all too often). Even though she'd probably never done it herself, she had the information.

"I'd say yes," Sougo answered Kagura, at the same time as Kamui replied. "That would be impossible." The two men paused and looked at each other.

"Oh? My 15 year old sister knows what sex is?" Kamui asked, flexing one of his hands in and out of a fist.

Sougo hid a smirk. "Well, she lives alone with a man in his late twenties…and I know for a fact she's familiar with the male body. You can't expect a teenage girl to be so innocent in this day and age."

"I see…" Kamui's voice was even and he was smiling, but his hand movements had changed from making fists to miming strangling Sougo.

"I wanna know! If Big Kagura knows, I wanna know too, uh-huh!"

Kamui cleared his throat. "Abuto, since you're probably more experienced than me in this area…"

"'Probably'? What are you saying, 'probably'? Listen, a kid like you has no idea how much 'experience' I've gotten…" Abuto caught sight of Kagura looking at him expectantly. "Hey, hey, I know it's my job to clean up your messes, Commander, but I'm not touching this one."

"Let me help you out, Kamui-kun." Sougo patted Kamui on the shoulder. "Kagura, the thing called 'sex' can get pretty complicated, but for the most basic kind all you need is two people and a pair of handcuffs. Oh, and only adults can do it, so don't get any ideas. First, the man ***************** with his *************** and puts ************** on the woman, making sure she **************** or ****************. She can then **************** and at the same time ******************* and ********************. It's fun if you **********************, but it's even better when you ***************************************************************************************, so keep in mind that *************** and maintain a vigorous-"

Kamui's hand was on Sougo's throat. "If you keep talking, I'll rip out your vocal cords and feed them to you."

"Is that really what it is…?" Kagura looked a little green. "I think I'm gonna…throw…up…"

"Shit!" Two chairs clattered to the ground as Sougo and Kamui, all too familiar with the likelihood that Kagura would carry out her threat, jumped back from the table. Abuto, however, wasn't so lucky—and as the slimy remains of what had been Kagura's lunch splattered over his boots, he had to wonder if it was too late to change professions.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Ick. Poor Kagura. Poor Abuto. Sougo needs to learn what things are not appropriate to say to children._

 _As always, your follows, favorites, and reviews are my bread and butter, and by far the best way to remind me to work on KWBK. If you can't think of anything to say, tell me about your favorite_ Gintama _character!_


	6. Pirate

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 6: Being a Pirate Sounds a Lot Cooler in Theory Than It Actually Is

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Updating a week early, as promised! Kamui's a bit of an ass here, but what else is new?_

 _Please be aware that_ _ **there is some simulated fighting/violence in this chapter**_ _._

* * *

"What are you planning on doing with her, anyway?" Abuto asked. It had been a few days since the commander had brought his little sister on board, but his reason for doing so was still unclear.

Abuto was starting to think the young man had just wanted to relieve his boredom. Kamui tended to get restless on these long space flights. Occasionally he'd spar with a few of his men, but after a number of broken bones and concussions, no one was particularly eager to pit themselves against him. Abuto was the only one left who would 'willingly' volunteer.

"Hmm…She's not the same as she was when she was really 5. Part of her older self's personality is leaking out. I think today I'll try to see if what Kagura did before we picked her up was a fluke. She wouldn't have had a chance if she hadn't surprised them, but she's strong for her age."

 _What Kagura did before we picked her up…_ Abuto was pretty sure he knew what Kamui was talking about. Although he hadn't seen her do it, he'd seen the bodies. A full-grown Yato and an Amanto pirate? It was hard to believe a child had been able to overpower those men, even if she'd taken them by surprise.

Abuto had felt a twinge of pride at the sight. That was the latent ability of the commander's little sister, after all. "How do you plan on doing that?"

"Want to see? Go and bring her to the training gym."

Ah, relegated to the role of babysitter once again. The exciting life of a pirate, indeed.

Kagura was a fairly pushy kid. When Abuto got to the guarded cabin she was staying in, it was almost embarrassing how easily she bullied him into giving her a piggyback ride—all she had to do was complain about the fact that 'Sougo' and 'Nii-chan' weren't _nearly_ as tall as 'Oji-san' and he gave in.

Well, he had a soft spot for kids, after all. Kagura was particularly adorable. With her fluffy orange hair, sparkling blue eyes, and dopey smile, she was like a cuter version of the kid the commander had been when they'd met.

As Kagura hummed a chirpy song and tangled her fingers into Abuto's unruly hair, he reconsidered. Like a younger Kamui? That was wishful thinking. As a child, Kamui had been bitter and unhappy, forced into adult responsibilities too young by his mother's sickness and his father's absence. He had gotten worse after she died. By now, the boy whose duty it was to protect his little sister was long gone. Kagura was a far more cheerful child than Abuto had ever known her brother to be.

Come to think of it, her being this age…did she even know her mother had died? What a mess.

At the training hall, Kagura clambered down from Abuto to greet her brother. The training gym was the most heavily reinforced room on the ship (Kamui's fault—the idiot didn't know how to hold back and getting the walls repaired all the time was expensive) and was filled with equipment to build strength and practice fighting techniques (also Kamui's fault—no one wanted to fight him, so the idiot had to find other outlets for his energy). In the center of the room was the sunken fighting pit where Kamui was standing.

Deciding to forgo the steps that led down into the recessed pit of the massive training gym, Kagura simply jumped down, barely fazed by the 15 foot drop. As soon as her feet hit the ground, she was jogging toward her brother.

"Nii-chan!" Kagura extended her hands up to her brother, wordlessly requesting that he pick her up, but he didn't.

"Hey, Kagura. Today I want to do some training with you," Kamui said.

Abuto frowned at his commander's words. He'd thought as much when he'd been asked to bring Kagura to the training gym, but he wasn't sure what Kamui expected from her.

The pit was used as a combination of a boxing ring and a virtual reality fighting game. The user could input stats for strength, speed, agility, and other factors to create an opponent to spar against. The pit would then make an avatar of that opponent, like a hologram that could punch or hold weapons—even bleed. It was Kamui's favorite toy, and Abuto had spent hours, on occasion, watching his commander fight dozens of virtual opponents and bathe in their blood, only for it to disappear the moment he left the pit.

It was an impressive piece of technology, but Abuto had to confess he'd never developed a taste for it. Nice for a bit of exercise to break up the monotony of a long journey through space, but it just didn't compare to the thrill and satisfaction of a real fight. Anyway, it wasn't a good trick to use on the kid. The kind of strength she'd shown against those two pirates was out of necessity. Unless Kagura was a very different person than Abuto had assumed her to be, she wouldn't go all out again just for the sake of training. Kamui was going to be disappointed.

Kagura wasn't sure what was happening, but if her brother wanted to train, she would be happy to do so. Kamui pushed her toward a smooth black panel, edges glowing green with various sensors and numbers, on the metal wall of the pit. "I want you to hit here as hard as you can. It'll tell me how strong your arms are."

Obedient, Kagura cocked her fist and punched toward the panel. Instead of the hard, glossy surface she'd expected, the panel felt a sandbag under her fist. Shining blue ripple-like lines propagated out from where her hand had connected with the panel and the lighted numbers scrolled up and down, measuring the force of her punch.

Kagura looked toward her brother for some kind of affirmation, but he didn't look pleased. "That wan't very good, Kagura. You can hit harder than that. Try again."

Kagura felt the sting of embarrassment pinch color into her cheeks. Had that punch really been so weak? She pulled back her fist and took a deep breath before she tried again, this time concentrating on hitting the panel with as much force as she could muster. The panel glowed brighter this time, and it seemed like the numbers were higher. But when Kagura turned back to Kamui, he looked disappointed.

"Are you really trying, Kagura? That reading is way too low. Use all your strength this time."

She'd been trying her hardest, hadn't she? Couldn't Nii-chan see that? Was he mad at her? Kagura bit her lip. This time she had to do better.

When she hit the panel a third time, the lines were yellow instead of blue and the numbers were higher. There! That was enough, wasn't it? Nii-chan would be-

"Is that really the best you can do? Are you really this weak?"

Even her best wasn't good enough. Ashamed, Kagura looked down to avoid her brother's eyes.

Abuto could see Kamui getting frustrated. "Go easy on her, Commander. It's impressive enough for a girl her age to be able to score so high. Some of the Amanto on this ship would have trouble getting that reading."

"If any of our men are this weak, I have no use for them."

Kagura cringed at her brother's words.

Abuto wasn't sure why he felt the urge to defend the girl, but he persisted anyway. "…In any case, the young lady isn't weak. She's holding back. She's not the type to give her all unless she has to."

Kagura flashed Abuto a look of gratitude.

Kamui gave no indication that he'd heard Abuto's words. "Look, Kagura. Like this." Kagura stumbled out of his way as he strode toward the panel and threw his fist toward it. The ripple lines shone bright red, and the numbers shot upward until each reading was at 9999. Kamui had maxed out the stats on the sensor.

Without bothering to look at his sister's awestruck face, he stalked over to the control screen next to the test panel, entered a few estimated values and commands, and jumped back out of the pit. The stairs that led out of the pit disappeared, sliding back into a smooth, featureless wall.

"Nii-chan?" Kagura, alone in the deep recess, looked up at her brother. Silence. It was too silent. Then-

A growl.

Kagura turned.

Something was materializing. An alien? It looked like an ogre from an old scroll painting. Twisted black horns, mottled purple skin, and yellow fangs that were too large for its mouth. Its drool dribbled down its chin and fell in fat droplets to the floor. In its right hand was a studded club as big as she was.

Kagura took a step back. Then another. "Nii-chan…help…"

Kamui approached the edge of the pit and dropped something in. Purple…her umbrella. "Show me you can defend yourself, Kagura."

Kagura knelt to grab the weapon. Why wasn't Nii-chan helping her? Why was he just standing there and watching?

Worried for the kid, Abuto made to call down and tell her it wasn't real, that she couldn't get any serious injuries in a fight against a hologram, but Kamui stopped him with a hand on his arm. "You said she wouldn't give her all unless she had to. If she's not really afraid, I won't get to see her fight seriously."

Seeing Abuto's look, Kamui continued. "Don't worry, I correlated it with the data from her last punch, not mine." The smile was back on his face, and 'sinister' wasn't a strong enough word to describe it.

 _Shit_ , thought Abuto. The commander's methods were going too far against the 5-year-old, but it would be dangerous to say anything about it now. Well, there was no way the young lady would _die_ —no matter how serious an injury she got in the ring, all that would be left once she got out would be minor scrapes and bruises—but still…poor kid. Abuto hoped Kamui was prepared for Kagura to hate her 'Nii-chan'.

The heavy head of the ogre's club sailed through the air, and Kagura had to scramble out of the way before it crashed into her. Why was Nii-chan just standing there? He was so strong. Wasn't he going to protect her like he always did? She ducked as a huge fist swung toward her head.

Now wasn't the time to think about why Nii-chan was leaving her behind. If he wasn't going to save her, she'd have to save herself. No matter how scared she was.

Kagura stepped out of the way to avoid the ogre's fist once again. It was far stronger than her, but it was slow and stupid. She pointed the tip of her umbrella at its chest and fired. The bullets sunk in, and the monster took a half-step back. She took advantage of its momentary confusion to jump up, sweeping her umbrella across its neck, but it recovered and batted her away before she could make contact. Her body slammed into the ground and skidded over the smooth metal floor. Kagura rolled over into a crouch, whimpering at the feeling of her bruised shoulder and the shallow gouges where the ogre's nails had scraped her.

The ogre was approaching. Kagura's legs moved on instinct, straightening and then jumping up to kick at its cheek. She felt a curl of satisfaction in her chest as her foot connected and the monster's head twisted to the right, but as she jumped back it caught her ankle roughly and crushed the fragile bones like eggshells. Still holding her leg, the ogre slammed Kagura into the wall. Her head rang from the pain.

It hurt…! Each harsh breath strained her bruised ribs. Her head was bleeding where it had hit the wall. And her ankle…Kagura felt the urge to gag and averted her eyes from the swollen red skin of her left ankle. The pain was too much. She couldn't…she couldn't…how could Nii-chan do this? Was he just going to sit there and watch her get killed?

Kagura could feel tears welling up in her eyes. The ogre loomed over her and raised its club.

 _Get up_ , said a voice in her head. _Get up. We haven't settled things yet_.

 _Don't you dare lose to anyone other than me, China._

Kagura stood, leaning on her umbrella for support. As the club arced down to meet her, she jumped, landing on it with her good foot, and pushed off to leap into the air above the ogre. It turned its head up to stare at her, slow, stupid. She twisted in midair and rammed the tip of her umbrella deep into the soft area under its chin.

The ogre teetered and fell forward. Kagura barely had time to wrench her blood-soaked umbrella out of its head and limp out of its path before it crashed to the floor.

Kamui was thrilled. Abuto was worried. Kagura panted and wiped a stray droplet of blood from her face.

The ogre's corpse dissolved into an array of blue sparks. Kagura felt the pain in her ankle subside. _What…?_ Aside from the bruises on her ribs and back, her injuries had disappeared along with the ogre. Even the blood was gone.

Before Kagura could react, the blue sparks collected once more to form a new enemy, this one with long, scaly limbs and a forked tongue that slipped in and out of its mouth as its slit-pupil eyes followed Kagura's every movement.

"Keep going." Kamui didn't sound angry like he had before. His smile was flawlessly pleased.

Kagura didn't look up at her brother. She stood, raised her umbrella, and charged.

…

After a few hours of sitting with Kamui and watching Kagura 'train', Abuto had had enough. Sure, it was pretty cool to see a 5-year-old beat the shit out of monster after monster, but after a while… Her injuries disappeared after each match, but he knew from experience that the pain was real every time. The kid was a damn machine, but it was still disturbing to see her with all manner of broken bones and bloody wounds.

Kamui, on the other hand, couldn't get enough. His sister—his _5-year-old_ sister—had fought against dozens of opponents that should have outclassed her and hadn't lost even once. Sure, some of it was her older self's fighting ability and experience showing through, but there was also real talent there.

So when Abuto strode forward to the control panel and entered the command that would end the endless parade of monsters and reopen the stairs, Kamui was a little annoyed.

Kagura walked up the stairs slowly. Finally, it was over. No serious injuries remained on her body, but there were plenty of bruises, cuts, and scratches to go around. Plus, she was so tired her thoughts were getting fuzzy. As she exited the pit, she turned an ear to the conversation between the Oji-san and Nii-chan for the first time since she'd started fighting. It sounded like…an argument?

"I know how you feel," Abuto was saying, "but she's exhausted, Commander, and—"

"Oji-san always calls Nii-chan a commander, uh-huh," Kagura interrupted. "What's Nii-chan a commander of?"

"Where do you think you are, kid? Your brother's the commander of this whole ship. He used to be the admiral of the Harusame space pirates-"

"Abuto," Kamui interrupted, a warning in his voice.

Kagura stilled and a shadow crossed her face. Her hand formed a tiny fist, trembling. "Pirate? Nii-chan's…a pirate…" That meant those men who'd tried to kill her were under his command. He hadn't rescued her and Sougo, he'd…taken them prisoner?

"…Cat's out of the bag, I guess." Kamui's voice was cold and his smile had stiffened. He didn't like that look on Kagura's face. Her eyes were wide and she was frozen where she stood.

 _Don't look at me like that._

"Don't tell me…all this time she's been here, she didn't realize? You didn't say anything to her?" Abuto scratched his chin. "She was bound to find out sooner or later."

Kamui turned back to Kagura to reassure her, but she found her footing and flinched away from him, betrayal written on her face.

 _Don't look at me like the real Kagura does._

It had been so easy to fall back into their old routines. When he was with her, he didn't have to remember the past ten years. Everything that had torn their family apart could be put aside.

That was over now.

"If you're a pirate, and Big Kagura is on earth, then where's…where's Papi, uh-huh?" Kagura was terrified to ask what she really wanted to know.

"Right now? He's probably on some distant planet hunting aliens." Kamui's voice was dangerous. Abuto wasn't sure what the Kamui was feeling, but he felt a spike of worry for the little girl's sake.

"Mami…where's Mami? She's better, right?" Kagura's trembling voice rose in pitch. She clutched her hands to her chest, as if trying to convince herself. "If she doesn't need Nii-chan or Papi or me, then she's better, uh-huh. Papi found a cure and-"

"She's dead."

Kagura looked up at her brother. His face was incredibly blank.

"No. No. Papi said he would find a cure. Papi promised—"

"That man is the reason she died."

Abuto wanted to tell Kamui to take it easy on the poor kid, but the way Kamui was looking right now, Abuto didn't want to lose another arm.

"W…when…" Kagura's breaths were coming in stutters.

"She died a long time ago. Stop crying. You look really pathetic when you cry, Kagura."

"Commander…" Abuto interjected, "let me take her back to her room."

Kamui turned toward his partner in surprise, as if he'd forgotten Abuto was there. "Why? We're not done training."

Abuto shifted uncomfortably. He was probably risking his life with this, but… "I think the young lady's had enough."

Kamui held his gaze for a long moment. "If you say so." Then, so quickly that Kagura's eyes couldn't follow his movements, he kicked Abuto in the stomach. Abuto went flying back to the opposite wall, the force of the impact leaving a dent in the metal. He slid down into a sitting position and put his hand to what felt like a good few broken ribs. Kagura's eyes flitted to the older man's mouth, where the heaving of his lungs had forced blood to his lips.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten how the Yato decide authority? If you want to keep questioning my command, you know where to find me." Kamui turned and strolled to the exit, not sparing a second glance for the two left behind.

…

Sougo was taking a much deserved break after a long day of staring at the wall (seriously, he was going to go stir crazy shut up in this room), when the door opened and a crying Kagura ran in and buried herself in the blankets of her bed.

That was odd. Not that she'd been crying—after all, she'd just spent a couple hours with that crazy brother of hers—but that she'd stayed away from Sougo. The kid version of Kagura was nothing if not clingy. If someone had hurt her feelings, she usually wouldn't be able to stop herself from whining to him about it.

"What's wrong, shrimp? Did you get your period?"

When Kagura didn't respond to ask him what a period was, he got up to check on her. The lump under the blankets was shaking with the force of her sobs. Sougo pulled back the covers and pushed her shoulder to look at her face.

"Hey, when your elder asks you a question, you should…respond…"

Kagura's eyes were screwed shut. Her hands were pressing into the sides of her head, covering her ears, her fingernails digging into her scalp. There was a tear in the skin of her lip where she'd bitten it.

Kagura wasn't just crying. She was shaking with fear.

Sougo swore. "What the hell happened, Kagura?"

Kagura jerked sharply, as if noticing his presence for the first time. "S-Sougo…"

"Did that space criminal do something to you?" He scanned Kagura's body for injuries that would indicate that that guy had hurt her while they were 'training' or whatever. Sougo was a sadist (and proud), but he wouldn't hurt a kid. If that guy had actually laid hands on his own sister…

She was covered in little bruises and cuts, each one standing out like a beacon against her pale skin. What had the space criminal put her through?

"Sougo…I think Nii-chan's a b-bad guy." Kagura's voice was shaking as much as her body.

So Kamui had finally shown his true colors in front of her. How to respond, though? "Don't cry about something like that, seriously."

"Nii-chan is a pirate…Papi is gone…and Mami…"

"What?" Sougo knew about Kagura's father, the famous alien sweeper, but he couldn't remember ever hearing anything about her mother.

"Nii-chan said…" Kagura swallowed and sniffed. "He said Mami died."

Well, that explained her current state. Sougo sat down on the bed next to her. "How?"

"She was sick for a long t-time. I knew she was sick, but, but, Papi was always looking for a cure. He _promised_ …" Kagura was really alone, wasn't she? Her family wasn't even a family anymore. The brother she'd relied on now scared her. The father she'd trusted had failed. The mother she'd loved had…had… Kagura shuffled closer to Sougo and pulled on his sleeve. "My family is gone."

Sougo felt a twinge of some unfamiliar feeling. Sympathy? He knew how she felt, to have to watch someone you love suffer and waste away and not be able to do anything. Even if you should have expected it, you never really believe it could happen until it does.

When Mitsuba had died, Sougo didn't know what he would have done without the Shinsengumi—the routines, the missions, the purpose it gave him. Right now, Kagura needed even more than that, but she had nothing. The look on her face told him she no longer trusted her brother, and with her father was who-knows-where, all she had was him.

It was up to him, then. Sougo lay flat on the bed beside her and gazed up at the ceiling. "I don't know about the family you used to have, but the older Kagura has a big family."

Kagura's sniffling paused. "Really?"

"Yeah… she lives with the silver-haired guy with the natural perm—he's a samurai but he's a useless adult." Danna and Kagura were pretty close, from what Sougo knew. They'd lived together for years now, and he was probably the father-slash-brother figure she missed in her life. Gintoki was a lazy bastard and a super sadist like Sougo, but he knew Danna would die before he let anything happen to the Yato girl. Well, anything serious.

Sougo vaguely wondered what he would do if Danna found out the two of them had been kidnapped by that crazy brother of hers. He'd either spearhead a rescue mission or just continue picking his nose and reading JUMP, depending on whether he believed Sougo could take care of the situation.

So far, Sougo had kind of been neglecting his duty both as a policeman and as a babysitter. It had seemed like the best thing to do was lay low 'til they reached a planet or another ship to escape with Kagura, but…

All those bruises.

Maybe waiting was the wrong choice.

"Who else?" Kagura asked through tears.

Oh, yeah. He'd been saying something, hadn't he? Kagura's Earth family. Well… "There's a guy with glasses who's pretty bland but a huge otaku, and his sister—" Sougo looked at Kagura. She was still shuddering, but he could tell she was listening. "She's a gorilla woman who can't cook, but you and her seem to get along. Oh, and you've got an old lady, an ugly woman with cat ears, a robot maid…"

Kagura let out a small smile. "What the heck? They sound weird."

"They're a bunch of freaks. But they're nothing a 15-year-old monster girl can't handle. That's you, by the way. You're as much a freak as the rest of them."

"You too, Mr. Do-S…" Kagura's voice petered out even as she drew closer to him. Sougo reminded himself to create a voodoo doll for whoever had called him a sadist in front of Kagura. Over the next hour, he sat still, listening to her breath evening out into sleep as the tear tracks dried on her face.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Again, poor Kagura… :( She's been through a lot, but she can take it. If she seems a little OP for a 5-year-old, remember:_

 _1\. She's a Yato. Remember how Kamui would beat up those Amanto when he was a little kid? Oof._

 _2\. She's not actually 5. She's a 15-year-old trapped in a 5-year-old's body, and she still has muscle memory and all that other crap. Trust me, it's "science"…_

 _Make sure to favorite, follow, and review so I know if you liked it!_


	7. Secrets

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 7: If You're Going to Look at Someone's Innermost Thoughts and Secrets, Be Prepared to Find out They're Talking Shit About You

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Late again…but I swear I have a good reason. Actually, several—exams, animals getting stuck in the walls, and an attempted kidnapping—all within the space of 4 days. Thanks for being patient!_

* * *

When Kamui came to the prisoners' room to take Kagura to train early the next morning, he expected her to be sleeping when he entered. He did not expect her to be sleeping snuggled up to the Shinsengumi captain.

Sougo'd heard the door open, but he didn't bother look up from the book he was reading. At some point Kagura had pushed up to his side like a puppy seeking warmth, and his arm was numb from enduring the kid's weight all night (not to mention her forceful—borderline violent—tossing and turning), but he had been reluctant to wake her. Anyway, he'd found some pretty interesting reading material.

 _You really fucked this up, space criminal_ , Sougo thought. _She's scared of you now._

Kamui's smile exposed a narrow strip of white teeth. "Kagura's still sleeping?"

"She was pretty tired when she came back last night." Sougo's voice was even. Unaffected. "She calls me a sadist, but you're even worse than I am, aren't you? Most people would hold back for a kid, but I guess that's the difference between earth policemen and space criminals."

"She'll be fine by now. We heal quickly," Kamui replied.

Sure enough, the small injuries that had marked Kagura's skin last night were gone. Yato healing abilities were no joke.

Sougo wouldn't say no to some of those right now. His arm was still fractured from his fight with Kamui back before they'd gotten on this goddamn pirate ship. It would take another few days to heal enough to fight with.

Kamui reached forward to shake Kagura awake but Sougo caught his wrist before he could touch her, ignoring the stab of pain from bending his injured arm. Kamui's eyes flicked up to meet his.

Sougo's voice was low and serious. "I don't know if you actually want to help her or not, but either way I'm the difficult type. It's my nature to cause trouble for guys like you. Whatever you're trying to do with her, I plan on getting in your way."

Kamui extricated his wrist from Sougo's grip none-too-gently. "Like I said, for now I'm just giving her a ride to Oukoku."

"Since when did the 7th division become a chauffeur service? I have a hard time believing you're going to just drop us off on Oukoku and fly away."

Kamui's smile widened. Abuto would tell him to stop talking, to keep his plans quiet. _Why, though? What could they do, an injured Earthling and a young child? What threat could they possibly pose?_

"Kagura is better off as she is now," he said.

 _What?_ Sougo thought.

"I have no use for the person she's become in the past ten years," Kamui continued. "When we get to Oukoku, I'll make sure she can never go back to the person she was before. I'll make her into a real Yato. If she starts over from here, as a child, she might actually be worth fighting in a decade or so. Oh, and you…I guess I'll hand you over to Shinsuke when we meet up."

Kamui picked up Kagura and flicked her forehead. She woke with a growl of protest but went silent as soon as when she saw the wolfish grin on her brother's face. "Let's go train, Kagura."

"Wait." Sougo got to his feet to block Kamui's path.

A shadow fell over Kamui's face. He put Kagura down and told her to go back to the training gym and listen to Abuto's instructions. She scampered off, relieved to be away from the suffocating atmosphere—though not before sparing a concerned look for the two of them.

Sougo glared at Kamui. "Are you actually saying you're going to stop Kagura from finding a cure? I'll admit she's a walking nightmare when she's her usual self, but she's not supposed to stay as a kid."

"The past ten years have made the older Kagura weak. You should see her fight how she is now, Sougo-kun—her talent is unimaginable for a girl her age. She never developed that potential. I have a chance to make sure she never becomes the weakling she was before."

"That freak isn't anything close to a weakling. Besides, she's got a life on Earth you can't ask her to give up."

Kamui hid a stab of irritation. Oh, yes—her 'Earth family'. Why should she go back there anyway? Kamui was her _real_ family. She'd be better off as one of his pirates than playing human with the apes. "I don't plan on asking her permission. Kagura only came to Earth because she was running away from her true nature as a Yato. That life is what made her weak."

"China isn't running away from anything. She's on Earth because she's too thick-headed to consider living life any way but exactly how she wants to." Sougo could barely believe he was actually defending the brat, but it was true. She may have been foul mouthed and delusional about her own importance, but she was never a coward. How many times had she stood up to an opponent she didn't have a chance against and used brute strength and sheer willpower to carve a path forward?

She wasn't the type to run away from her instincts. If anything, she was beating those instincts into submission. That was the legacy of those past ten years—the ten years that Kamui wanted to take away from her.

Like hell Sougo was going to let Kamui stop Kagura from getting those years back. After all, he'd said it before, hadn't he? He wasn't about to fail two missions in a row. They were going to get out of here as soon as Sougo saw an opportunity.

It wasn't just that, though. Sougo would shove Kagura in an iron maiden and drop it out of a helicopter into a volcano if she ever found out, but he _liked_ fighting with her. She was a good match for him. Few others in Edo could keep up, and China was the only one who was actually interesting enough to keep his attention. Who would Kagura be if she spent ten years of her life, from age 5 to 15, on a pirate ship under Kamui's thumb? Stronger? Maybe. But would she be the same person?

The person she'd been—that dumb girl who had poached fish in an off-limits preserve and then used it to bribe a government official to keep quiet—if Kamui got his way, Sougo might never see her again.

Sougo sat back on the bed. "I wonder if your corpse will still be smiling when I cut your stomach open. If so, it'll probably be a closed-casket funeral. Think China has a preference? She might finally admit that my patented tanning bed coffin is a good idea in case you monster rabbits have a habit of regenerating."

"If you really think you can beat me with no weapon and that broken arm, you're free to try. I think I'll cremate you so Kagura doesn't have to see your bloody remains." Kamui turned back toward the door, having decided that the conversation was over, but Sougo's voice stopped him.

"It wouldn't work anyway, you know."

"What wouldn't work?" Kamui couldn't help himself from asking.

"Your plan to brainwash her into the perfect opponent to measure your strength against, a Yato killer like you. That girl is hopeless. She doesn't listen to orders. You can't whip her into shape; believe me, I've tried."

Kamui stared at Sougo. Seriously, what kind of relationship did this man have with his sister? "Now that she's a kid, I think I have a pretty good chance. Who she is right now isn't the same girl you knew on Earth."

"China will always do what she wants, and she doesn't want to be like you. Doesn't matter whether she's 5 or 15. She will always choose…Earth." Sougo's voice stumbled over the last word. He'd been about to say _'me'_ , but that didn't make sense, did it? Sure, the young Kagura was clinging to him since she'd witnessed her brother's darker side, but the older Kagura hadn't 'chosen' him in any way.

Kamui's eyes narrowed and his sneer sharpened. "Watch and see, earth policeman."

Sougo curled his lip to match Kamui's expression. "Don't believe me? Read this." He tossed Kamui the book he'd been reading earlier.

Correction. Not a book, a journal. Kagura's journal.

Well, Kamui was bored. May as well get some insight into his sister's life. He certainly wasn't feeling a tiny fissure of doubt about his ability to control the little girl.

He took the journal and left the room to watch her train, leaving Sougo behind.

At the gym, Kagura was in the pit again. This time, however, she wasn't battling a virtual opponent—instead, she was going over stretches and strength-building exercises with Abuto. The two of them stopped when he entered.

Abuto… Kamui looked down at his second-in-command's chest. Sure enough, there was a strip of white bandage peeking out of the shirt he was wearing from where Kamui had kicked him yesterday. It had been childish. There had been no reason to take out his anger on Abuto. Kamui wasn't the type for regret, but… "Is that serious?"

Abuto held his commander's gaze for a moment, then let out a huff of laughter. "Who do you think I am? I'll be good as new by tomorrow."

And that was all the apology they needed. It was one of the privileges of having known each other for as long as they had.

Kamui considered telling Abuto that they were done warming up, that Kagura should start fighting agin, but he decided to let it go for now. Instead, he leaned against the railing on the side of the stairs reaching into the pit, took out the journal, and opened it to a random page.

… _really just sunstroke and a summer cold, but the doctor knew nothing about Yato and thought I was dying. At first I pretended to be really sick to teach those two a lesson, but they thought I was really about to die and started to plan my funeral…_

Seriously? Was this real?

… _Princess Soyo came to my "deathbed" with those rotten tax robbers. The sadist was the only one who seemed to realize that I wasn't dead and for a second it seemed like he was on my side for once, but when I tried to tell everyone that I was really okay he elbowed me so hard I passed out._

 _When I woke up I was in a coffin at my own funeral. Do-S put me in a tanning bed coffin that simulated sunlight so I couldn't move. I was about to get killed for real when Gin-chan and Shinpachi saved me. That Prince of Sadists was seriously going to kill me. As soon as I recover from being cremated, I'm going to SPARKING a grenade up his ass…_

The steel railing crumpled like cheap cardboard as Kamui's clenched fist contracted around it. He barely noticed the broken bits of metal digging into his palm. All that talk, defending Kagura…and the Shinsengumi was the one trying to kill her. Hypocrite.

Kamui flipped through the pages of the diary, skimming for more mentions of the sadist.

… _called me an illegal immigrant working as Gin-chan's slave and poisoned me with tabasco sauce…_

… _I said I couldn't get married anymore, but the sadist showed up out of nowhere and said I could have him and live a simple life with three meals a day in a home with bars. Like I would be okay with only three meals a day…_

… _he tried to kill me again…_

… _I tried to kill him again…_

Kamui barely noticed as he ground the bits of railing into steel dust. He was going to slaughter Sougo.

As he looked through the journal, another name caught his eye. Well, not a name…

… _met that baka Aniki of mine in Yoshiwara. He's a pirate now, and still a wild beast as usual, cause he tried to hit me with a killing blow. How weak does he think I am? Like that puny hit could take down the Queen of Kabukicho._

 _But, he really tried to kill me._

The rest of the page was blank, like Kagura couldn't think of anything else to say. What had she been feeling? Fear certainly, but what about betrayal? Anger? Hurt? Kamui tried to remember what she'd looked like back then. He hadn't even bothered to look at her face—not really, not beyond the glance that had let him recognize his wayward sister. In his mind, she'd been so far below his notice that she wasn't worth any real consideration—just a distraction from his real goal.

What if he'd really killed her back then? He'd meant to, not just because she'd gotten in his way—didn't he always say he avoided killing women and children?—but _because_ she was his sister. When he left their family in Rakuyou, he'd cut her out of his life, severed her world from his. He couldn't be both a pirate and her brother. She didn't belong in his universe, so when she'd shown up in Yoshiwara—a reminder of the past he'd forsaken—the only thing he could do was try to erase her from it.

 _"Look at me, Kagura,"_ he'd wanted to say. " _Look how much stronger I am. Look at how much I've changed. Look what I've become…_

"… _and stay away."_

Kagura continued her recollection of the events of that day on the next page of the journal. Kamui scanned the messy jumble of characters for an account of her fight with Abuto.

… _It's been a long time since I fought a Yato like me, so at first he had the upper hand. The old guy kept spouting nonsense about blood and the Yato and Aniki. He was pretty strong and he kept saying how I was weak because I didn't go for the kill. Well, I showed him._

 _He was hurting Shinpachi, making him puke blood, and something happened to me. I don't really know what it was, but I got really strong and beat the old guy up. I was gonna kill him, but Shinpachi stopped me. It was really scary. I don't ever want that to happen again. Like he said, I'm not just a Yato and not just that crazy monster's little sister. I'm my own Kagura!_

 _But, there's one thing I don't want Shinpachi to know because he'd try to argue with me. I know what happened was bad, but I'm glad it happened. The old guy was gonna kill Shinpachi. I wasn't strong enough to stop him by myself. If I didn't turn into that monster, Shinpachi would've died. I hate that side of me, but I needed it then to protect my family._

 _If I never want to be that monster again, all I have to do is get so strong that I can protect them without it._

Kamui had never heard the story of the fight in detail. He'd assumed that Kagura had lost her 'limiter' in an effort to save herself from being beaten by the experienced Yato she was facing. 'Awakening' was essentially a survival instinct. But Kagura…Kagura had awakened to protect her friend. Her supposedly uncontrollable Yato urges had served the intent of her conscious mind, and she'd even stopped herself from killing her opponent.

No. No, that was wrong. Kagura and him were the same. Ruled by their blood. She couldn't escape the curse of the battle-hungry Yato. There was no way…no way she could ever belong on Earth. Because if she could, how could he justify what he was doing? If not for the sake of preventing her from restraining her instincts, why did he want to stop her from turning back into the person she'd become over the past ten years?

Kamui shut the book and attempted to push away the nails of uneasiness that were sinking into him.

…

When Umibouzu entered the terminal on Planet C*********, where he'd spent the past week taking care of the D*** infestation, he almost didn't stop at the universal post office to check whether he had any messages waiting for him. He already knew what star system he was going to for his next job, and it was rare for him to receive anything personal by interplanetary mail. However, the possibility that his darling daughter might've written him stopped him from passing the post office by. Kagura didn't write as often as Umibouzu would like, but it was still worth checking.

"Kankou, the Umibouzu? Let me take a look." The post office worker took his ID and entered the information into a computer database before trotting off to a back room. Umibouzu drummed his fingers on the countertop, half-listening to the sound of the newscaster's voice from the TV that was playing in the corner. After a short wait, the employee—W***, according to his name tag—returned with a single envelope. "Here's you are. You have one letter from planet Earth of the _Via Lactea_ galaxy."

Unlike the cutesy pink stationary Kagura usually preferred, this envelope was yellowish-grey and half-crumpled. The letter inside had been scrawled in smudged pencil on the back of a flyer advertising new machines at an Edo pachinko parlor.

 _Kagura ate some alien fish and got turned into a 5-year-old. It was the Shinsengumi's fault, so one of the officers is taking her to Oukoku to get her fixed. Thought you should know._

— _Sakata Gin-san_

Umibouzu ran a hand through his nonexistent hair, but whatever thought would have formed in response to this bizarre report was cut off by the sound of the news from the TV. " _Breaking news in the story of the_ Hakken Travel _spacecraft that was boarded by pirates earlier this week during a commercial flight from Earth to Oukoku! Passengers aboard the aircraft have reported that two people were taken hostage and brought to the pirates' ship—a police officer and a young child._ "

Slowly, disbelievingly, Umibouzu turned to face the television.

" _One of the abducted has been positively identified as Shinsengumi Captain Okita Sougo. The identity of the child has not been confirmed by the_ Hakken Travel _yet_." Two images, side by side, were filling the screen.

In one, a kid wearing the characteristic black-and-gold Shinsengumi uniform made eye contact with the camera. It would have appeared to be an ID photo if not for the red eye mask pushed up on his forehead and the fact that he was giving a one-finger salute to the photographer. The other photo looked more like a candid taken by a cell phone. In it, a girl— _the spitting image of Kagura at age 5_ —was sitting astride a massive white dog and facing up to two men Umibouzu could only assume were pirates.

" _Although no definite suspects have been identified by the authorities, sketch artists have been able to make an approximation of the pirates' leader from passenger descriptions._ " The pictures of Sougo and Kagura were joined by a detailed color drawing of a smiling teenager wearing Chinese clothing and holding a large umbrella. His long orange hair was arranged into a neat braid, and though the picture showed his eyes closed, Umibouzu already knew the precise shade of blue that lay behind those eyelids.

The alien hunter looked down at the letter he'd received, then looked back up to the screen.

Back down at the letter. Back up at the screen.

Letter. Screen.

Letter. Screen.

"Are you all right, sir?" asked the office worker, W***, concerned at the man's complete lack of expression as he looked between the letter he'd received and the television.

Umibouzu turned to the employee. "Thank you, but I'm fine."

W*** breathed a sigh of relief. The traveler had looked like he was about to pass out for a second there. "Alright then—please sign here to confirm that you received your letter…thanks. If you're planning on leaving planet C*********, would you like to update your forwarding address?"

"Yes please. I'll be in Oukoku."

W*** tapped the information into the database. "I hear it's lovely there this time of year. Business or personal?"

"Well, I'm going there to hunt down and eradicate my idiot son, so would you say it's a bit of both?"

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Hakken (_ 発見 _) Travel = Discovery/Discover Travel, which I thought would be an appropriate name for the extraterrestrial version of an airline, plus a bit of poetic irony._

 _Since this chapter was a week late, next chapter will be a week early—and it's a big one, plot-wise, so look forward to it! As always, please favorite, follow, or review to let me know if you liked it. The reviews you guys leave mean the world to me, and I would really love to get some more feedback._

 _Next time, Chapter 8:_ Going into Business with Your Friends Is Generally a Bad Idea, Even If You Have a Lot in Common


	8. Business

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 8: Going into Business with Your Friends Is Generally a Bad Idea, Even If You Have a Lot in Common

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: First of all, please be aware that_ _ **there are mild depictions of violence and fighting in this chapter**_ _. I'm also going to go ahead and say that this warning may or may not apply to any of the following chapters as well. I wouldn't consider anything in this fic extreme enough to warrant an M rating, but definitely let me know if you disagree._

 _Basically, if nothing from_ Gintama _bothers you and nothing from earlier chapters of this fic bothered you violence-wise, you should be fine for the rest of the fic._

…

 _(If you don't really care about logistics, feel free to skip over the rest of this note.)_

 _So what's the deal with Kamui and Takasugi? After Kamui caught Takasugi during the Battle on Rakuyou arc, he said that they were even—but does that mean their partnership was over? For the purposes of this story, I'm going to say that they agreed to maintain the partnership and co-lead the other Amanto divisions of the Harusame that defected from Utsuro after BoR. Unfortunately, the whole "cooperation" thing isn't really Kamui's M.O.…_

* * *

Kamui liked Takasugi.

Mostly.

The samurai was an impressive fighter, but he was _calm_ —in ways that Kamui couldn't quite relate to. They got along well enough, but in the end Kamui wanted a challenge and Takasugi wanted destruction. Not mutually exclusive goals, but Kamui had asked himself more than once in the year since the Harusame was disarticulated if those goals still had a point of intersection.

On a massive screen in one of the communications centers of Kamui's ship, Takasugi took a slow drag from his pipe, the smoke barely visible on the monitor. Kamui waited for the leader of the Kiheitai to speak. Abuto sat next to his commander, bored but paying enough attention to be able to mediate disagreements as they (inevitably) came up.

When Takasugi finally spoke, his voice was slow, almost lazy. "Right now my ship is approaching your division. I'd like to confirm a few rumors I've been hearing from the men I have stationed with you."

Ah, yes. Currently the crew of Kamui's division ship consisted of both Yato and other Amanto, but the Amanto were technically mercenary subordinates (formed from the stragglers of the Harusame who had defected after Utsuro's takeover on Rakuyou last year) of the Kiheitai under Takasugi's command whom he had ordered to serve in Kamui's division. Only the Yato—the true '7th division'—answered to Kamui alone. Those men, the Yato soldiers, were more than strong enough to match the Kiheitai in terms of power, but their numbers were lacking. Takasugi's mercenaries rounded out the ranks a little. Kamui still wasn't sure they were actually necessary—all of them were far weaker than the Yato soldiers—but Abuto had assured him many times that they needed numbers.

"What rumors?" Kamui asked, knowing full well what rumors Takasugi had heard.

"That instead of capturing the Vice Chief of the Shinsengumi, you've picked up an underling and a young child."

"No need to confirm, Shinsuke. Whatever information you gave me about the Vice Chief was wrong. Okita Sougo was the only Shinsengumi on that flight. I thought a unit captain would be better than nothing."

"And have you gotten any useful information out of him on the Shinsengumi's movements?"

"What movements? The Shinsengumi hasn't had any real power since the mess with Tokugawa Shige Shige. All they do is chase around that Joui rebel comrade of yours. Katsura, right? The Shinsengumi aren't a problem for that country."

"Katsura isn't my comrade."

Kamui's smile didn't twitch. "Wasn't he? I seem to recall that you fought side by side with him on Rakuyou. My mistake."

Takasugi glared but didn't press the issue. "What about the girl? My men can't seem to agree on whether she's your secret love child or your clone."

Kamui laughed. "Aren't I a little young to have a love child that age? Your men are being overdramatic. She's my sister."

"Your sister?" Takasugi frowned. A female version of Kamui… A memory jumped to his mind. During the mess with Benizakura a while ago, hadn't he met someone who fit that description? Salmon-pink hair, blue eyes, the pale skin of the Yato and the brute strength to match. She'd surprised him at the time with her ability. And when she'd been shot by Kijima multiple times, the wounds were as good as healed by the next day. She'd shown up again to fight Kamui during the Shogun Assassination Arc… So that girl was indeed his sister. "That tomboy princess…the one from the Yorozuya."

Kamui felt a stir of discomfort. Though he knew Shinsuke and Kagura had seen each other before, he wasn't aware the girl had left any kind of impression aside from her association with the silver-haired samurai. "Tomboy princess?"

"She got herself involved in my business a while back. Wasn't she a teenager?"

Kamui shrugged. "She was turned into her younger self. I don't know how, but it has something to do with Oukoku."

"Why is she on your ship?"

"Her natural talent is incredible. She never took advantage of it, but if I keep her like this she might be able to match my strength in a decade or so."

"'If I keep her like this'…" Takasugi repeated, musing. "You want to keep her as a child on your ship?"

"I can hire a caretaker or something. It would be unwise to squander this opportunity. I've been training her, and she has the potential to become a asset for our cause."

" _Our_ cause?" Takasugi asked, half-smiling. "Knowing you, you're just looking forward to fighting someone on your level."

"Maybe a little." Kamui watched his partner's face carefully. "But in a few years, she'll make a good soldier for both of us. Before we brought her onboard, I saw her beat one of your men and one of mine, each in a single blow… Think about what she could bewith the right training."

Takasugi's spine straightened and he tapped the ashes out of his pipe. Those Yato were monsters in a fight, and his mercenaries weren't weak either. _Could such a young child really…?_

Noticing Takasugi's expression, Kamui tensed and continued. "There's no need to bother meeting in space so you can take the prisoner. We've almost reached our destination. When we land on Oukoku to stabilize Kagura's transformation, I'll send a few of your men to take the Shinsengumi to the base."

"I didn't realize there was a Harusame base on Oukoku."

"It was Kada's from years ago. It's not in use now, but it should be functional."

So Kamui didn't want Takasugi to meet the kid, did he? That was intriguing. "I wouldn't mind going out of my way to witness the ability of the girl who supposedly overpowered one of my soldiers." Not to mention the girl who had allied herself with his Kiheitai when he was in a coma. Odd how she had connections in high places—Gintoki, Kamui, and who else?

What a bargaining chip. And at 5 years old, a vulnerable one.

Kamui hid his wariness. "I don't think that's a good idea. Kagura's shy around strangers."

Abuto almost rolled his eyes at the blatant lie, but he stopped himself. The commander was visibly strained. This little conflict was clouded with something ominous.

Undeterred, Takasugi continued. "I'm sure she'll get over it. We need to meet before you land on Oukoku. Their government is hostile to the Kiheitai, and the Shinsengumi officer will have plenty of allies to aid his escape if you send him to the Oukoku base once you've landed."

Abuto could feel the tension in the room like a physical presence. The two of them, in general, got along well, but Abuto knew Kamui had been considering the possibility of reducing their relationship from partners under a single flag to mere associates with separate interests. If Takasugi continued to push, Kamui might react…unfavorably.

"I'm not sure it would be wise to meet up in space. I can conceal this ship once we've landed, but if two large battleships convene in Oukoku's airspace we might get shot at, right?"

"The Oukoku authority won't incite violence unless we threaten them first. Besides, I want to see whether or not that child is as valuable as you say. Oh, and have your official mission reports for me to review when I board." The screen faded to black as Takasugi switched off the connection, leaving no way for Kamui to argue his point further.

Abuto eyed his commander carefully. Kamui did not enjoy being treated as Takasugi's subordinate. If Abuto didn't know better, he'd think Takasugi was deliberately trying to get on Kamui's nerves. A vein was sticking out on the young commander's forehead.

"Abuto, do you remember what you and I discussed after the banquet last month?" Kamui asked casually.

The Vice Commander scrunched his brows together and tried to recall. In late April they'd eaten at a banquet on one of the more pirate-friendly planets with Takasugi and the Kiheitai. It had been a very diplomatic affair, and while Kamui could be a brilliant strategist (when he bothered to think about anything beyond 'reach your goal on a mountain of corpses'), he didn't enjoy playing politics, even with Takasugi. After the dinner, Kamui had spoken with Abuto about… _shit_. About a very specific and very bloody plan to break with Takasugi's Kiheitai. He'd already more than repaid his debt to Takasugi by saving his life back on Rakuyou.

" _After all_ ," Kamui had said, " _there can only be one pirate king._ "

At the time, Abuto had hoped it was a joke.

"Now?" Abuto asked. "You really think now is a good time to kill _every member of the Kiheitai on this ship_? Takasugi won't be happy when he finds out. If his ship is as close as he thinks it is, we'll have to prepare for battle."

"Those Amanto he loaned us may call themselves part of the Kiheitai, but they're not. They're leftovers from the Harusame. Mercenaries who allied themselves with Takasugi out of fear. He'll get over it after we massacre them. And if he doesn't, well, I wouldn't mind seeing trying my hand against another samurai. Don't you think it's high time we went independent, Abuto?"

Abuto could see the excitement in his commander's grin, the anticipation. Takasugi had pushed too far this time, and the fact that Kamui's little sister was involved must have been the last straw. No way in hell was Kamui going to back down now.

Abuto shook his head and a long-suffering sigh escaped him. It was always a pain in the ass when the commander got in trouble like this, but Abuto couldn't say the idea of finally getting to see some real action wasn't appealing. "I'll gather the men and let them know while you start your rampage."

Before Kamui could reply, a crackling sound drew both their faces upward to a speaker in the corner. An intercom? Since when did this ship have an intercom system?

" _Allies of the Kiheitai, be warned! I have just witnessed the commander and lieutenant commander of this ship plot to betray our leader, Takasugi! They plan to slaughter every Amanto aboard this craft who does not belong to the Yato clan! The 7th division has declared war! The commander-_ "

A meaty crack resounded over every speaker as Kamui snapped the neck of the unlucky Amanto who, loyal to Takasugi, had been spying on the pair and decided to announce their intentions to all the other Amanto. Now, in the battle of 7th division vs. Kiheitai, Yato vs. alien, the Yato would no longer have the element of surprise.

Not that they needed it.

"What do you want to do, Commander? They're going to be rioting in the halls, thanks to this idiot." Abuto nudged the dead body with the toe of his boot.

"It's more fun this way, don't you think?" Kamui smiled. He reached for the intercom microphone. " _Attention, Yato of the 7th division. This is your commander. What you have just heard is true. I am giving you my full and express permission to kill any Amanto sent by the Kiheitai that you encounter. In fact, these are my orders—kill the other Amanto."_

Abuto sighed again. Such a troublemaker, his commander. If Kamui ever decided the pirate life wasn't for him, he had a promising career ahead of him as a political insurgent. Through the ship's communication system, Abuto sent a private warning to the pilots to secure the cockpit.

"You can go to the engine room," Kamui said. "Some of the Kiheitai's allies will probably to try to sabotage the ship. I'll go to the gym."

Not a surprise. This time of day, most of the pirates would be training or in their cabins, and Kamui would have more fun trying to take on 50 Amanto at once than picking them off one by one. The time, though… Abuto frowned. "Are you sure you don't want to check on the young lady? The guards on watch right now are Amanto. They might try to go after her."

Kamui froze, and for a moment Abuto could see something on his face that he hadn't witnessed in a very long time—fear. Raw, honest fear. It took a fraction of a second for Kamui to shake off the expression, but Abuto wouldn't forget it. Did Kamui really care that much about his little sister's well-being?

Kamui's response came a moment too late to be natural. "…She'll be fine. You've seen how she can fight. Between her and the Shinsengumi, she won't be in any real danger." He stepped out the door of the communications center and stalked off.

Abuto didn't bother telling him that the training gym was in the other direction.

…

As soon as the warning came out of the speaker in the cabin where he and Kagura are imprisoned, Sougo knew they were going to be targeted. The Yato aboard the ship would probably know better than to try to go after the two of them, but Sougo had seen the guards outside. Blue scales and gills screamed Amanto, and that meant one of them was probably going to get the bright idea to use the Commander's sister as a hostage.

What a pain. At least by now his arm was healed well enough to hold a sword.

"What's happening? And what was that 'crack' sound, uh-huh?" Kagura asked, once again displaying her talent for asking questions that the average adult would find difficult to answer.

"Your brother just told the pirates to start killing each other. And the cracking was probably him getting a head start on the murder-fest," Sougo answered, once again displaying _his_ talent for not caring at all about what the average adult would consider inappropriate to say to a kid. Instead of waiting for Kagura to ask more questions (or worse, start crying), he picked her up and put her on his back, where she wound her arms around his neck out of habit. If ever there was a time to escape, it would be now, when the chaos all over the ship could provide cover and distract the most dangerous element—the pirates' commander. "Stay still and hold on tight. Here, hold your umbrella."

Predictably, the door was kicked open by an over-muscled Amanto holding a sword not thirty seconds later. It opened its mouth—probably to say something along the lines of "give us the girl and we will allow you to remain alive, weak human,"—but Sougo didn't give it a chance. His kick came swiftly, shoving the Amanto's face down sharply into the edge of one of the bed frames. When the Amanto didn't get up, Sougo kicked it over. Its face had been bashed in on the corner of the frame and was now a mess of blood and bone and flesh. It didn't move.

Kagura gasped comically, but Sougo suspected she wasn't _that_ upset at the gory sight. These Amanto were the big-but-weak type then. Boring. Sougo reached down and wrested the Amanto's sword out of its stiff fingers. It was a large, western-style sword, not one he was used to, but Sougo wasn't one of the best swordsmen in Edo for nothing. He could adapt.

The other Amanto outside the cabin were dead before they even knew the prisoners had gotten out.

"You killed them, uh-huh!" Kagura yanked on Sougo's hair until he swatted her hand away.

"Yep. I'd give you a lesson on human anatomy—since there're so many internal organs out here—but we're in a hurry."

"Blegh! You're gross!" Kagura mimed barfing. It was a good thing she'd 1) gotten a little bit desensitized to blood and gore from her time training in the pit with Nii-chan and 2) not eaten her usual dozen plates of food for breakfast, or else she really would barf. Right on Sadist's head. "Where are we going?"

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? Sougo had known all along that it wouldn't be that hard for him to fight his way out of the guarded cabin with Kagura. The problem was getting off this ship. Judging by the amount of time they'd been traveling, they should be close to Oukoku—that is, if Kamui had been honest about the ship's destination. If they were close enough to a planet, Sougo could try to hijack an escape pod. First, though, he'd need to try get to the upper deck and judge whether they were close enough. Problem was, he'd only been able to leave the cabin once—when they'd had a meal in the galley—so he didn't know how to get to the deck.

Kagura, on the other hand, had gone out multiple times over the past week to train with her brother and the other Yato guy, the older one. Maybe she'd seen something. "China, did you ever go up on the deck of the ship?" Sougo asked

"No."

Damn. But maybe… "Have you seen anything that looks like a staircase going up into the ceiling?"

"I dunno… Wait! Yeah! In the gym!"

"Which way?"

From where she sat on his back, Kagura pointed the tip of her purple umbrella in the direction she remembered walking to training. "That way. Why're we going there?"

"We're getting off this pirate ship," Sougo said, too distracted at following the path she directed to bother coming up with anything better.

"We're leaving?"

"What, did you scratch inside your ears so deep they got plugged up? Of course we're leaving. We're escaping your crazy brother."

"…" Kagura tightened her arms around Sougo's neck and leaned her head into his shoulder, upset. She knew Nii-chan was a pirate who did bad things, but she still loved him. He thought she was weak. Maybe, just maybe, if she trained hard and got strong, he would go back to caring about her like he used to. But if she left now, he'd probably hate her forever.

Sougo could sense her distress. "Don't tell me you'd rather stay here with that lunatic. I knew you were dumb, China, but I didn't know you were that dumb."

Kagura didn't have a reply, but she didn't need one—they'd reached the training gym, and the chaos inside was enough to distract both of them.

…

Kamui frowned as he inspected the state of the cabin where he'd been keeping his sister and the Shinsengumi. Of the four Amanto who'd been guarding it, one had been killed with blunt force trauma and the other three with a bladed weapon. The Shinsengumi had gotten his hands on a sword, then. If he was alright, then Kagura was also probably fine, but where were they?

Sougo must have taken the opportunity to escape with his little sister. Kamui should have guessed that something like this would happen. He'd become accustomed to the police officer's seeming complacency with the situation—Sougo hadn't rebelled or tried in any way to escape over the past week—and as a result Kamui had neglected to keep as close an eye on the man as he should have. Now that he'd decided to dissolve his partnership with Takasugi, it wouldn't be much of a problem for Sougo to escape. It would be annoying to have let such an interesting prey get away, but no great loss.

The issue was Kagura. Sougo clearly intended to take Kamui's little sister with him when he escaped. They would go to Oukoku and she'd turn back into a teenager. And nothing would change. Kagura would still be afraid of the dark blood inside her. She'd be on Earth, living with the Earth family who would never really understand her, who would always hold her back. She and Kamui would belong, like they had for the past ten years, in different worlds. He wouldn't get a chance to make her—

Kamui shook his head. No reason to think about that. He would get her back, and he would make it so that those ten years had never— would never happen. He just had to find her. If they were escaping, they'd head for the upper deck and try to steal a pod. Sougo wouldn't have any way of knowing where the deck was, but Kagura had spent the past few days training in the gym. She might have noticed the exit there and shown Sougo toward it. If the gym was, as Kamui had predicted earlier, the nucleus of the conflict between the 7th division Yato and the Kiheitai-loyal Amanto, Kagura would…

Kamui cursed and turned tail toward his sister.

…

Of-fucking-course the training gym, the only obstacle between the two prisoners and their freedom, would be filled to the brim with Amanto killing each other. Sougo could feel Kagura's grip tightening as they surveyed the scene. Nothing to do but carve themselves a path to the staircase. Sougo held out the heavy sword and entered.

"Hey! It's the commander's kid and the hostage!" one of the Amanto felt the need to yell out as soon as the odd duo came inside the gym. Sougo rolled his eyes. There was no way they'd be able to sneak through the crowd of fighters now. Plus, 'the commander's kid'? How old did the pirates think Kamui was?

Sougo came forward, felt the murderer's blood racing in his veins. One broad slash from his sword felled the Amanto who'd announced their presence. The next to approach was cut in two lengthwise. Sougo ducked under umbrella fire and stabbed the Yato who had shot at him and Kagura. Although the western broadsword was uncomfortably heavy, Sougo was pleased at the powerful blows it delivered as enemy after enemy fell at his feet. The Yato were much harder to beat than the others, but most of those who came close were other Amanto—anyway.

Fuck, but it was good to see the blood on his sword at last. To be able to move around. How nice that there was such an abundant supply of enemies who kept attacking. For some reason they seemed to think that it was pure luck that Sougo had killed so many of their brethren so easily.

The popping noise of gunshots brought Sougo's attention behind him, but it was just Kagura, as she fired her parasol at an especially ugly-looking alien who'd approached from behind. The alien fell to its knees and then wilted forward into the ground.

"Put me down," Kagura said. "I can fight."

"Like hell. You're a thousand years to early to be fighting together with me." _More like ten years_ , some unwelcome part of Sougo's brain supplied. He cut down another alien and grabbed Kagura's leg when he felt her shift on his back. They were nearing the stairs.

Kagura pouted but contented herself with shooting at Amanto from Sougo's back as they scrambled up the staircase. She wouldn't aim at Yato—she wasn't sure, but those were Aniki's men, weren't they?—but she wanted to help Sougo. Even though he was mean sometimes, he still protected her.

They reached the top of the stairs without much trouble—most of the fighting was concentrated on the ground. Sougo growled at the locked heavy metal doors guarding the exit. He had nothing to pick the lock with, and even without trying he could tell the doors were too sturdy to kick down.

Kagura jumped down from his back, ran toward the doors, and sent a powerful kick toward the seam between them. The metal squealed and crashed. One door hung off its hinges and the other fell with an ominous bang to the floor of the outer deck. Kagura stared triumphantly back at Sougo.

"You better forget this when you turn back into yourself," Sougo muttered. Bested by a 5-year-old. Those Yato were monsters, all right.

Kagura just smiled her dopey smile. Sougo strode over to one of the tiny storage cabins that would house an escape pod, not bothering to see if Kagura was following. It was definitely built for a single passenger, but he and the half-size Kagura would fit. Probably.

It was protected by some kind of passcode lock. Unfortunately, this didn't look like a door Kagura would be able to break down with pure strength—using force would no doubt damage the ship inside. They'd have to crack the code somehow. "Oi, China, what's your brother's birthday?"

Silence.

"China girl, what day was your crazy brother born?"

"Nice try," answered a voice that wasn't Kagura's.

Sougo turned slowly. Kamui was behind Kagura, his blood-soaked hands—fresh from battle, then—resting on her shoulders and crossed loosely over her neck. He was smiling, his eyes and mouth closed crescents, his voice mirthful, as if on the edge of laughter. In contrast, Kagura's eyes were open wide in shock, sight directed straight ahead like she was afraid to look behind her.

"I wouldn't use my birthday as the code, though. Too obvious," Kamui said. He looked down at Kagura, ruffled her hair, and tipped her chin up to force her to look at him. His bloody fingers left smudges of red on her pale skin. "Were you trying to run away from me, little sister?"

Sougo gripped the broadsword and charged.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: The weekend after next, when I would plan to post the next chapter of this story, is the weekend before finals week. I'll do my best to stay on schedule, but just in case I'm not able to get to it in time I want to assure you guys that it'll be posted by the following weekend._

 _Pro tip: I can definitely be convinced to work on this story instead of studying. Follow, favorite, and review to tell me where my priorities should lie!_

 _Next time, Chapter 9:_ A Parent's Superpower Is Showing up at Exactly the Right Moment to Spoil Their Kids' Fun


	9. Spoil

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 9: A Parent's Superpower Is Showing up at Exactly the Right Moment to Spoil Their Kids' Fun

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: I live! Barely. Wish me luck before grades come out._

 _This chapter marks the end of the first arc. I can't wait to hear what you guys think! If you haven't had the chance to leave a review yet, now would be a great time._

 _Thank you for reading so far. Here's to what comes next!_

* * *

Kamui pushed the shell-shocked Kagura out of the way before leaping up to meet Sougo. Sougo swung the broadsword, but Kamui parried it with his umbrella and took note of the faint wince on Sougo's face when he jarred the arm that had been broken. The next blow hit Sougo in the chest, sending him flying back until he landed slumped over on the deck.

Kamui approached his opponent. "You shouldn't have strained yourself, earth policeman. If you'd left her, I would have let you go. That arm is still injured, isn't it? Even if you were used to that sword, you would have a hard time keeping up-"

Sougo's supposedly-broken arm jutted out to elbow Kamui in the ankle. It took only a millisecond for Kamui to notice and move himself out of Sougo's range, but a millisecond of uncertainty was enough for Sougo to cleave his sword through Kamui's thigh. Kamui pulled back sharply and Sougo jumped to his feet.

Both wore matching smiles.

"I guess your arm's just fine after all."

"Falling for the same trick again, space criminal?" Sougo taunted. "I thought you were smarter than that. Well, not really."

"Not bad. But I seem to remember that trick was more successful last time." Kamui was enjoying this. Sougo's sword—an unwieldy Western-style blade that he looked uncomfortable with—had missed a major artery in Kamui's thigh by just centimeters. If the policeman had been using his usual sword, Kamui might have lost the leg. Still, Sougo was panting hard from the hit he took earlier. Bruised ribs, broken maybe?

This was going to be fun.

Kagura trembled as she watched them. Why were they fighting? It was her fault, right? Sougo wanted her to go. Nii-chan wanted her to stay. But Kagura didn't know what she wanted. And now they were fighting. They were both so quick she could barely keep up. This fight was nothing like any she'd ever seen before. It was amazing and terrifying. The slightest moment of miscalculation would mean death.

Would one of them have to die to end it? Kagura didn't want that. That couldn't happen. But how could she stop those two? She'd be dead if she got close.

Speaking of getting close…there was something in the distant space getting closer fast. Kagura squinted to try to make it out. Was that…a ship?

Kamui noticed it too. The fight with Sougo was too intense for him to stop and scrutinize it, but there was definitely a ship in the distance. If it was Takasugi's, Kamui would be in trouble. He wouldn't need to fight with the policeman if the Kiheitai showed up to take possession of their hostage, but it was still too early. He hadn't expected them to come so quickly. The battle downstairs was still going. The Yato weren't having trouble against the other Amanto—probably dragging their fights out for sport if he knew them at all—but the arrival of the main Kiheitai forces could change that.

 _Was it_ Shinsuke's ship, though? As it neared, Kamui could see that this ship wasn't the right size or type…

A slice from Sougo's sword nicked Kamui's jawbone, barely missing his neck. "If you don't pay attention, this is going to be too easy," Sougo drawled, even as his attacks became faster and sharper. Kamui's focus snapped back to his opponent and he returned the blows with renewed vigor.

The mysterious ship was getting closer and closer. Kagura could make out two figures standing on the prow, one dark and one pale. A cloaked man and a white…horse?

No, that wasn't a horse. It was a dog!

A ripple reverberated through the metal floor of the 7th division ship's deck as the new ship crashed into it agonizingly slowly. Kagura felt her teeth rattle from the force of the impact, but Kamui and Sougo were too engrossed in their fight to allow themselves the distraction of looking.

From above, Kamui came flying down to punch Sougo into a bloody mess.

From below, Sougo sliced upward to tear Kamui in half.

Kagura held her breath.

A cloaked man atop a massive white dog leapt down from the prow of the mysterious ship, kicked Kamui out of the way, and effortlessly crushed Sougo's sword with his bare—metal—hand.

Umibouzu flipped over his hood, pushed up his goggles, and stepped down from his steed. "My idiot son, you've really done it this time."

Kamui looked up at his father, uncomprehending. Why was this old baldy here? _Now?_

Umibouzu cracked his prosthetic knuckles and prepared to beat the shit out of his firstborn child when he spied her. Little Kagura, just as she'd been ten years ago. She was cowering in the corner, but her eyes were shining with warmth. She took a cautious step forward, then another, and then she was running toward him. Umibouzu knelt down and spread his arms to receive a hug-

" _SADAHARU!_ " Kagura ran right past her father to grab onto the huge dog, who seemed equally happy to see her, as his tail was thumping loudly on the deck. He licked all over her face and she snuggled into his warm fur. "I missed you, Sadaharu!"

Umibouzu gaped.

Kamui stifled a chuckle.

Regaining his composure, Umibouzu moved toward his daughter. "Kagura-chan. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Kagura blinked. She turned back to her pet. "Sadaharu, who's that bald guy? Did you find him on the streets?"

"…Kagura-chan…it's me, your father…" Umibouzu's voice wavered. Kamui shook with silent laughter.

"My Papi isn't bald, uh-huh."

Kamui laughed out loud. Priceless. He'd never seen Umibouzu look so defeated. Though his father's kick made it difficult to take deep breaths, it was worth it. "Sorry Kagura, but a lot's changed in the past ten years. This baldy is our father."

"Don't call your father-" Umibouzu's reprimand was cut off by the sound of a sniffle. Kagura's eyes were welling up with tears. Caught between depression and panic, the baldy's train of thought went out the window.

Kamui was seriously in pain, he was laughing so hard. "It's okay, Kagura. When I saw that bald head for the first time, I almost wanted to cry too."

Kagura wiped her eyes. "It's…it's not that. If Papi w-went bald…then does that mean…Nii-chan will go bald when he grows up?" Kamui's laughter halted abruptly. Now Sougo, who still wasn't totally sure what was going on, was laughing.

"Definitely. Your brother probably already has bald patches on his head," Sougo answered. Kagura's weeping increased in volume.

"I'll kill you." Kamui made a throat-slitting gesture at Sougo. "Don't worry, Kagura. You and I got our looks from our mother, not that baldy."

"B-But you even have your hair in a braid like Papi used to, uh-huh. And you're short like Papi."

"I'm only 19. I'm still in my growing phase," protested Kamui at the same time as Sougo added, "170 centimeters isn't short." The two 170 cm 19-year-olds eyed each other—a momentary truce.

"Enough of this," Umibouzu interjected. "I'm here to rescue you, Kagura-chan. You can come too, policeman."

Kamui got to his feet. "If you think I'm just going to let you take her, baldy-"

" _Don't call your father a baldy!_ "

"-baldy, you're mistaken." Well, it was easy enough to say so, but it would be rough to fight both Umibouzu and Sougo in this situation. Kamui was injured from the fight earlier and Umibouzu's kick, while less than full strength, had been strong enough to slow him down. Maybe if he got Abuto here… Abuto could be able to take care of the now sword-less Sougo. If Umibouzu's two prosthetic arms weren't as good as the real things, Kamui might have a chance against him even in this injured state. Was it even worth it? Who knew.

But could he really just let Umibouzu take his sister away like this? Kamui had this strange, irrational feeling that if she left now, he would never see her again…

He aimed his umbrella at his father. "Let's go." Umibouzu raised his fists in response.

Kagura didn't want to watch. She didn't want them to fight. It was even worse than when Nii-chan and Sougo fought. Now it was two members of her family. What if one of them died? Even if Big Kagura wasn't close to either of them, she couldn't say goodbye. She couldn't just watch them fight, watch them try to kill each other from the sidelines…not _again_.

Something broke.

 _Papi and Nii-chan were fighting, and Kagura was terrified but powerless, and so she just watched as Nii-chan tore off her father's arm and left. He was right, she was such a weakling, she couldn't do anything as her family left her one by one…_

 _Kagura was a child still, but older, and so incredibly lonely on that dark, rainy planet. She was leaving for Earth, for her mother's dream. She wondered how many months would pass before her father discovered her absence…_

 _She met Gintoki and Shinpachi on Earth and joined the Yorozuya. She was sleeping in a closet and didn't get paid and never got to eat as much as she liked, but it was fun and warm and she didn't have to hurt people. When she woke up, Gin-chan would be in the house, complaining about his hangover but_ there _, and Shin-chan would come to cook and clean, and no one left her…_

 _She met Sougo at the cherry blossom viewing and knew even then that they were destined to be rivals—he was the_ worst _but it was so much fun fighting him and even better to fight alongside him, because even if she didn't trust him she trusted his ability…_

 _She was in Yoshiwara, and she saw Kamui for the first time in a long time and he tried to kill her, and she could see in his eyes that he'd stopped loving her a long time ago. After, she cried herself to sleep every night for a week and hated herself for it, because crying was for weaklings…_

 _She was protecting the Shogun in Iga, and she fought Kamui, and this time she hardened her heart because if he didn't care about her why should she care about him? But she couldn't help herself, couldn't help hoping he could see how much she'd grown, and she was proud of herself for being able to stand up to him…_

 _They were on Rakuyou, and he was so strong, but she had her family on her side, and she thought it had worked out, but he left without even saying goodbye. She wanted to cry then, too, and she did when nobody was looking. Even though she was strong, even if he didn't want to kill her, she wasn't enough. She would never catch up to him, no matter how long she tried. She wished she could just stop loving him, but family doesn't work that way…_

 _And then she went back to them, her Earth family, and she was so, so happy that she had them, not just because she needed them but also because they needed her, and it was good and right to love and be loved in return. Because somewhere along the line she'd realized the family she was born with would never need her like she'd needed them. And she was grateful to her mother for leading her to Earth, to the place she truly belonged, to the people she could truly belong to._

Kagura fell to her knees and held her head in her hands. Kamui, who was the closest to her and Sadaharu, dropped his fighting stance and rushed to kneel beside her. "Kagura?"

Umibouzu didn't miss the note of worry in his son's voice.

Just as quickly as the girl had fallen, she stood again, wiping at a nosebleed she hadn't realized she had. Her face was hard in a way it wasn't supposed to be. "I remembered."

"Remembered what?" asked Sougo.

"Everything. From the past ten years. I'm the 15-year-old Kagura, although-" She looked down at herself, flexed her arms. "-it looks like I'm still in this body, uh-huh."

Kamui looked away from her.

Kagura knew now what he'd been planning to do with her younger self. She understood the things he'd spoken about with Sougo or Abuto when he thought she wasn't listening. He'd wanted to keep her a child instead of letting her return to her reality. He would make her into a copy of him, stash her away on this pirate ship, raise her into a person who would be worthy of being his family, because the person she was now could never make the cut.

Her, the 15-year-old Kagura, the one whose identity was formed in large part because of the events of the last ten years—he'd wanted to erase her from existence.

She wanted to cry desperately, but Kamui and Sougo were the two last people in the world she would let see her break down like that. It was bad enough that they'd seen her cry as a kid so many times over the past week. Instead, she crawled up on Sadaharu's back, hoping no one would notice how difficult the task was when she was this small. "C'mon, baldy— I mean, Papi. Let's go."

Umibouzu looked back at his son. "Are you sure you don't want me to beat this one up?"

"I don't care about him," Kagura said, proud of her childish voice for remaining steady.

"If you say so," said Umibouzu. If his daughter wasn't upset about the kidnapping, he had no reason to punish his son for it. Honestly, if he felt he had to correct Kamui's every moral transgression, he'd have to follow his son's ship around the galaxy. The boy was a pirate, for god's sake. Umibouzu jumped up to prow of his ship, where it loomed over the other ship's deck.

Before Kagura could follow him, she felt Sadaharu shift as Sougo sat behind her on his back. "Oi Sougo, whaddayou think you're doing, uh-huh?"

"Like I can jump up there." Sougo gestured up to the railing of Umibouzu's ship high above. "I need a ride on this monster."

"Shut up! He's not a monster, he's an Inugami, remember? He saved the world once!"

Ah, yes. Sougo could remember the whole Inugami fiasco. That had not been a good week for him. "When did this _monster_ save the world?"

"When the giant cockroaches invaded Kabukicho and threatened to take over the earth, he was the one who killed the queen roach and saved us all, uh-huh." Sadaharu swished his tail back and forth in response to his master's praise. "And he's not a monster, his name is Sadaharu!"

Sougo knew this, of course, but he couldn't resist taunting Kagura now that she was back to her normal self—internally, at least. "Sadaharu… Sadaharu… Wasn't that the name of that dung beetle-"

Kagura elbowed him in the side, but she couldn't get a good angle from where she was sitting in front of him. "How dare you! Because of you, Sadaharu 28 died, uh-huh! You pet murderer!"

"You were the one who squeezed that beetle so tight it- ow, what the hell, China girl?"

Kagura had finally found a good angle from which she could elbow Sougo. Satisfied at having asserted her dominance over the sadist, Kagura patted her pet to let him know to jump up to Umibouzu's ship. As soon as they were onboard, the ship turned away to head toward the gleaming planet of Oukoku in the near distance. The sounds of the battle still raging below the decks of the pirate ship slowly faded into the distance.

Kagura was careful, very careful, not to steal a last glimpse at her brother's ship as they left.

…

Sougo lay in the bed he'd been given for hours, wondering why he couldn't sleep. The temperature was fine, the bed was more comfortable than the one the pirates had given him, he had his sleeping mask (he was lucky it had been in his pocket as he left the pirate ship), and the room was silent save for the hum of the ship's engine.

Oh. That was it, wasn't it? The silence. Sougo had gotten used to falling asleep to the sounds of Kagura's breath, in and out, and her fidgeting noises as she tangled herself up in the blankets of her bed next to his. It was oddly—comforting wasn't the right word, but Sougo couldn't think of anything else—to be able to hear her presence in the room. On Umibouzu's ship (which he'd apparently borrowed from a friend), they'd been given separate rooms to rest in for the half-day or so before the ship would reach Oukoku.

And now Sougo couldn't sleep.

He pushed up the mask and left the room. Where was Umibouzu? He had a few things to discuss with Kagura's father, chief among them a request that Umibouzu take care of his own kid and get her body fixed. Sougo was sure the overprotective-seeming man would agree to take that responsibility off his hands, and it would be one less burden for Sougo to shoulder during his mission.

"No," came Umibouzu's answer when Sougo found him in one of the ship's offices. "I'm sorry, but I will have to leave Oukoku as soon as I drop the two of you off at the terminal. I borrowed this ship from a friend of mine without getting her _express_ permission beforehand and I must return it."

So this ship was stolen? Great. No wonder Kagura turned out the way she did, when she had a pirate for a brother and a…bald pseudo-pirate for a father. Actually, compared to these two, the China girl was pretty normal.

Umibouzu chuckled at Sougo's expression. "Don't worry, policeman—my friend is familiar with the practice. My son isn't the only pirate I know."

"If you say so." What other pirates did Umibouzu hang around with? This eclectic-space-mercenary thing was getting out of hand.

"I still have some things that can help you, however. Here." Umibouzu pulled a familiar suitcase out from under the desk and handed it to Sougo. "This is yours, correct? I picked it up from the Oukoku terminal along with Kagura's pet."

It was the suitcase Sougo had brought with him on the trip originally. The pirates had left it on the leisure craft they'd started their trip on. This would be useful. Sougo had been wearing the same clothes for a week, and while it had been helpful to be able to take regular baths, it was high time he changed into something else. He wasn't sure the bloodstains from the recent battle would ever come out of his white cravat.

And perhaps, if he was lucky, his bazooka would have survived passing through exit security without him. His sword was long gone by now, but it would be good to have at least one of his signature weapons at his side.

Umibouzu's voice interrupted Sougo's thoughts. "I couldn't find any bags that belonged to Kagura. Did she have one?"

"Oh, that. Kamui had the pirates take it on board their ship when we were kidnapped. It's still there."

The alien hunter frowned. "I'm not sure it would be good for Kagura to go without her things… Oh! Here." From inside the desk, the alien hunter produced a fat wad of cash in a currency Sougo had never seen. "Please give this to her so she can purchase anything she needs."

It took genuine effort for Sougo not to point out that Umibouzu had clearly just stolen that money from the friend from whom he'd commandeered the ship. Instead, he thanked the man. Wasn't there a saying about pets that bite the hand that feeds them? What with the nasty streak of bad luck Sougo had been suffering from recently, he wasn't about to look this gift horse in the mouth—no matter how much he wanted to.

"One more thing," said Umibouzu. "I'm worried about my daughter. Why exactly did Kamui take her onboard when he kidnapped you? It's uncharacteristic of him to pay her such notice."

"From what I know, he was taking her to Oukoku to stabilize the transformation instead of reversing it. He wanted to keep her as a kid and raise her to be…like him," Sougo summarized.

Umibouzu sighed and pressed a hand against his bald temple. "That idiot boy. If only he took after his mother… He's too stupid to realize that what he really wants is to start over a relationship he ruined, and now Kagura is in pain because of it… Go. I'll get the two of you when we've landed."

As Sougo returned to his room, he pondered Umibouzu's words. The bloodthirsty pirate commander Sougo knew from the ship wasn't the type to go to such lengths to recover his relationship with his sister, but then again, there had been times when Kamui did show actual evidence of caring. Like when he'd braided and arranged Kagura's hair… Was that the action of someone whose only goal was to brainwash his own flesh and blood and take away her identity?

This dysfunctional family… Sougo had seen odd familial relationships before, but this one took the cake.

Bored (because worrying about someone else's problems was not Sougo's hobby and most likely never would be), Sougo rifled through his suitcase to pick out the packet of information about Oukoku he'd planned to read before this mission. This diplomatic mission was nothing big—hand-shaking, signing papers, and a promise of cooperation between the Shinsengumi and the Federation capital's police force—but Sougo knew next to nothing about Oukoku (aside from its eccentric prince) and now seemed like a good time to remedy that.

…

Kamui was sulking. Yes, _that_ Kamui. The lightning spear commander of the independent band of pirates that still called themselves the 7th division. The former admiral of the Harusame. One of the strongest Yato in the universe—actually, no qualifiers necessary, one of the strongest in the universe, period.

 _That_ Kamui was sulking.

It was over. He'd seen the way she looked at him when she regained her memories, like she could see through him. She was gone. And it was that baldy's fault. Once again, his father had gotten in the way. And now Kagura remembered everything and he wouldn't have a chance to make her into a person who could stand at his side, who could fight him, who was like him and not trying to escape her destiny as a Yato.

Because that's what he'd wanted, right?

He knew he had better things to worry about right now. The Kiheitai supporters on his ship had been successfully eradicated, with minimal casualties on the Yato side of the conflict. Kamui hadn't been able to get as much enjoyment out of them as he would have liked, but they were gone. The real problem was yet to come. Takasugi's ship was approaching fast, and Kamui wasn't sure he had the patience to talk his way out of this one now. Maybe he could leave Abuto to take care of that.

Where was he? Oh, right, the lieutenant commander had mentioned something about helping clean the corpses out of the hallways (" _Really, Commander, it's a damn safety hazard, someone's going to trip and impale themselves on an axe laying around and then we'll have to spend more money on bandages because you used them up last time you thought it would be cool to go out with your face all wrapped up like Sh*shio M*koto, I mean, we have umbrellas for a reason_ ") while Kamui pretended he didn't hear him. It was Abuto's job to clean up his messes, anyway.

Bored and sulky, he'd gone to his quarters and started reading the diary Kagura left behind. What she'd been talking about with the Shinsengumi as they left had surprised him. An Inugami, giant cockroaches, dung beetles—what was Kagura getting herself into on Earth?

The longer he read, the more surprised he was. Kagura had experienced all sorts of adventures on the planet she called home, seen a variety of events and people that were out of the average person's reach. And now Kamui was seeing her, the person the past ten years had made her, bright and cheerful and naive and gluttonous and a complete idiot in some ways but _strong_ —

Kamui shut the book, lay back on his bed, and stared at the ceiling.

She was gone from his life. That was what he wanted. This past week had just been a reminder that they belonged in different worlds after all.

Abuto knocked on the door of his commander's quarters. When he received no answer, he opened the door by twisting the handle so forcefully the lock broke.

The commander was half-lying on the bed, looking up. In his hand was a book, its cover inscribed with Kagura's name and a warning of evisceration to any who dared snoop on its contents. Kamui didn't bother looking at Abuto. "What."

 _Who am I, the father of an angsty teenage boy? I don't remember having such a bad-tempered child_ , Abuto thought, rolling his eyes out of Kamui's view. "Takasugi's ship is close. We should prepare to meet him."

Kamui didn't respond, just closed his eyes.

"Your sister got away, didn't she?" Abuto didn't know the details of what had happened, but he knew that Sougo and Kagura were no longer on the ship.

"Umibouzu showed up and took them."

Well, shit. Abuto knew the animosity his commander felt toward his father. For Umibouzu to get in his way would bring up memories of back then… Had they fought? No, if they had, this ship would be in pieces. "Surprised you let them go without a fight."

Before Abuto could blink, Kamui had slammed him against the wall, his hand against Abuto's throat. Kamui smiled. "Did you have a point?"

Abuto raised a hand and waved it dismissively, used to his commander's temper tantrums. "I was thinking, actually, that it might be a good idea for you to get out of here before Takasugi boards. I can talk things out with him. Your being here will probably make things worse." _If you're not here, it'll be easier to explain to Takasugi why you thought it was a good idea to pick now of all times to break ties with the Kiheitai_.

Kamui removed the hand that was threatening to choke Abuto. "What?"

"Like you said, Takasugi won't care that much that we got rid of the Amanto mercenaries he hired to keep an eye on us. I can talk it out with him, break the partnership peacefully. If you're here, you'll just get in the way. Your presence is too threatening."

Kamui looked pleased at the thought of his presence as a threat to the samurai. "So…wait. What are you saying? Where am I supposed to go while Shinsuke boards?"

Abuto shrugged. "Take one of the escape pods and go down to Oukoku. Take a vacation, you know…eat the food." _Go make up with your sister._ "Play around with some women." _Make up with your sister._ "Find that Shinsengumi captain and finish him off once and for all, if you want." _Make up with your sister, you damn fool._ "I'll come get you once this mess with Takasugi is done."

"…Alright. But if you think there's going to be a fight, get me first."

Abuto internally huffed in relief. He'd thought it would take more convincing than that. The commander must have realized that he couldn't leave things with his sister as they were. Abuto was such a good guy, giving those two idiot siblings a chance to resolve their differences.

Kamui, however, had other plans.

* * *

END OF ARC I


	10. Rome pt i

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 10 pt. i: When in Rome, Do as the Germanic Tribes Did

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Arc II! Wow! Get ready for some big drama…although you should used to that by now. This chapter is pretty tame, however._

 _Because the next few chapters are a lot longer than those preceding, in the interest of continuing to update on schedule I'm going to be splitting some of them into parts._

 _I make up a lot of BS about Oukoku in this chapter. There have been some revelations about the Oukoku monarchy in canon from the Silver Soul arc, but I wrote this before they came out. Whoops! At least it's spoiler-free._

 _Lastly, a big thanks goes out to everyone who reviewed last time! I love reading your reviews._

* * *

"-and concerning the spike in petty crime in the Northern Precinct, I think an increased patrol presence would raise more issues than it would solve. The citizens will feel more pressure and opposition to the expansion of the main force. What would you do in this situation, Captain Okita? Oh— Everyone, Captain Okita is the representative for the Earth police force, the Shinsengumi. What are your thoughts on the matter? Captain Okita? Are you…sleeping?"

Sougo pushed up his sleeping mask and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Juurou, the Amanto leader of Oukoku's royal guard heading the interplanetary police panel, was staring at him curiously. "No."

"…I see. Well, what do you think?" Juurou motioned to the diagrams on the wall behind him, hoping to help the Earth police officer save face. He'd been sleeping. He'd been sleeping, hadn't he? He'd definitely been sleeping. A drop of sweat appeared on Juurou's brow.

Sougo eyed the information they'd been discussing. What had they been saying? This panel was so boring that (aided by his sleepless night on Umibouzu's ship) he'd fallen into a restless nap almost immediately. This was why he hated 'diplomatic' missions like this. It was always such a drag to have to sit through these stupid discussions. At least if he was alone, he'd be able to have fun enjoying Oukoku's nightlife once work was done—although 'nightlife' was a bit of a misnomer on this planet.

The sun of the Oukoku solar system was more intense than the one on Earth, and the planet was orbited by four impressive moons that lit up its nights. During the hot season it was a custom for people to start work at nightfall and sleep or enjoy leisure activities during the day. And if there was one thing Sougo was looking forward to, it was the leisure activities Oukoku was renowned for.

It was well known throughout the galaxy that the capital city of the Oukoku monarchy valued beauty in in more ways than one. Sure, the architecture of the palace in the center of the city was a universe-wide marvel. Yes, the mountains that framed the city at its southern border were quite the interplanetary tourist attraction, what with their masterful carvings of the rulers of Oukoku throughout history. But the real reason foreigners hailed the capital city as one of the most beautiful places in the galaxy was that it boasted the finest pleasure houses known to man—or Amanto, as it were.

Sougo wouldn't mind testing those claims for himself, but there was a better-than-decent chance that it would be a moot point with Kagura hanging around. She'd find some way to ruin his fun. At least playing around with her—well, fighting her—was always its own kind of entertainment.

Speaking of Kagura, he should probably figure out where she'd gone off to. After Umibouzu dropped the two of them (three, including Sadaharu) off at the Oukoku terminal, Juurou had come to greet Sougo and take him to the police convention. The head of the Oukoku royal guard had been delighted by the appearance of the little girl. He's somehow assumed she was Sougo's kid (seriously? how old did these people think Sougo was, that he'd have a 5-year-old daughter?) and Juurou had absolutely doted on her, offering her candy and gifts like a grade A white-van type. Apparently kids were a big deal in this culture.

Sougo had let Kagura stew in the discomfort of being fawned over by an adult man for a short while before explaining that the 5-year-old was, in fact, a teenager inside. Juurou had referred her to a doctor in town who promised to take care of the problem—apparently it wasn't uncommon for foreigners to experience odd side effects when they got on the wrong side of artifacts and animals from Oukoku. The next time Sougo saw Kagura, she'd be back to normal.

Good. He'd sort of…missed…messing with her. Not that he'd actually missed her.

 _Oh, right_. Juurou'd asked him something. Sougo had been silent long enough that some of the representatives from the other planets were trading looks and whispering. Juurou was still pointing at one of the diagrams, waiting for Sougo to answer.

"Uh… Suppressing crime…on Earth, we would hunt down the criminals. Take the leader first, even if he begs for mercy. Kill him in front of his underlings so they lose all hope. Let a few of them go, so they think they got away, and then pick them off one by one in the dead of night…something like that."

The room went quiet. Juurou let out an awkward laugh. "Is that how things are done on Earth? A bit strong for a simple rash of petty crime, no? I'm not sure that strategy would work in this situation, but…" The alien's focused demeanor turned serious. "…Maybe it's because we always dismiss the forceful approach that the Crown is in this mess…"

For the first time since the start of the meeting, Sougo had heard something worth paying attention to. He sat up. "Hm?"

Juurou shook his head. "It's nothing. Anyway, back on the subject of shoplifting incidents…" The meeting continued to drone on for hours, but Sougo kept an eye on the alien host. Nothing in this conversation was worth listening to, but trouble in Oukoku's monarchy? That would be news to Sougo. What could it be? Severe internal strife unknown to outsiders? Was the country on the verge of schism? A bloody civil war…now _that_ would be a vacation.

He let his patented Sadistic Smile (copyright Okita Sougo, 2019) grow on his face, oblivious to the temperature of the room dropping about 10 degrees from the chill of his evil intentions. The sundry aliens gathered for the interplanetary police panel cast wary glances at the representative from Earth.

"Are all Earthlings this scary?" a yellow-skinned Amanto whispered to his horned compatriot, both representatives of the planet Jhyrgxslytq.

"Maybe we should hold off on our plan to invade Earth," the horned one, inspecting the Earth policeman out of the corner of his eye.

The yellow-skinned one nodded and gave a side-eye to Sougo, who was blissfully unaware that his gory fantasies about a violent civil war in foreign lands had prevented an alien invasion.

…

"It's nothing dramatic like you're imagining," Juurou said when Sougo asked about his earlier comment regarding Oukoku's monarchy. The earlier meeting had finished, and now Juurou was accompanying Sougo to the doctor's office to pick up Kagura. Since Sougo was in no hurry to find himself in China's presence (and maybe a little because that little slip earlier—thinking he'd missed her—had caught him off guard more than he cared to admit), he'd suggested they stop for a meal first at a little shop in the city.

Juurou took a bite of the flaky meat pastry thing he'd ordered and chewed carefully before continuing. "I'm the captain of Oukoku's royal guard, which doubles as a special police force for the capital city. We've been having trouble lately controlling our interim regent, Princess Ahon. Even the beggars around here have heard rumors of her bad temper, but it's far beyond what the rumors say… Ever since Prince Baka- I mean, Prince Hata left to travel the universe looking for new pets, she's become insufferable. Last month she tried to delay a rescue mission for a troop that had been captured off-planet because she didn't want their return to upstage her half-birthday.

"Honestly, it's gotten out of hand. Everyone's afraid to speak out against her. Adolescent rebellion doesn't look good on royalty, especially when said adolescent is capable of sentencing any one of us to death with the flick of her pinky." Juurou motioned for the waitress to bring over another flask of the sweet-smelling liquor he'd been drinking and offered Sougo a bowl.

Sougo shrugged and let the Amanto pour for him. He knew how many problems had been caused by Amanto royalty with too much power for their own good. That same Prince Hata had nearly caused the Earth's destruction on more than one occasion when his love for animals transcended common sense. And he wasn't going to argue about the whole 'adolescent rebellion' thing—teenage girls were forces of destruction, and China was living proof. "Did you see that dog, when we met at the terminal? The big white one?"

Juurou nodded his assent as he sipped from his bowl.

"It once turned into a huge Beast God and destroyed a bunch of things back in Edo. Its master, that girl, got in my way when I tried to take it out." Sougo conveniently left out the part where he'd actually been aiming more at 'that girl' than at the Inugami.

"It almost killed me. These girls… I don't know how that damn brat managed to avoid jail time." Actually, it was because after the incident he'd been recovering in a hospital bed from after having been shot by a dozen different bazookas (courtesy of Hijikata). He'd been so busy plotting revenge against the Vice Chief that he'd forgotten to file an arrest warrant.

Juurou burst out into laughter. "The young really have it good, don't they? Ah, to be twenty-eight years old again! Those are the glory days, and don't you forget it!" He clapped an unwelcome hand on Sougo's back.

"How old are you?" Sougo asked. Juurou had a young face. Sougo wouldn't have pegged him as older than maybe his late twenties.

"46 last month, and still as young as the day I took the rites of adulthood! I forgot how quickly you Earthlings live and pass on. Like mayflies, you are. How old are you, Captain Okita?"

"…I'll be 20 this year."

" _20_? You're too young to be drinking this." Juurou plucked the liquor bowl out of Sougo's hand.

Sougo frowned and considered flicking one of the skewer-shaped eating utensils on the table into Juurou's eyeball. "On Earth, I'm considered an adult."

Juurou ignored the murderous intent clogging the atmosphere and poured the alcohol from Sougo's bowl to his with a half-smile. "Perhaps, but in this country none who have seen fewer than 25 summers may partake. Besides, you should be getting back to your companion. You've kept her waiting long enough, hm? I'll leave you to it." He drained the rest of the spirit, stood, and winked at the waitress as he took his leave.

It took Sougo approximately 4.6 seconds to realize he'd been stuck with the bill.

Ohohoho. That Amanto thought he was so clever, didn't he? Joking about Sougo's age to distract him before he ran off and made Sougo pay for everything. All very well. Sougo had been on his best behavior for the last week or so, but that would end now. _We'll see how clever you're feeling when I catch up with you and ram this rocket launcher up your a—_

"Sir? Sir! You can't leave without paying." The waitress's hand on Sougo's arm stopped him halfway out the door. Oh right, the bill. Well, he'd pay now and just take the money from Juurou later. He moved to take out the roll of cash Umibouzu had given him early, but…

He patted his front pockets. Only some metal stamp Juurou had given him at the start of the police meeting, a token of interplanetary cooperation or some other useless shit. He patted his back pockets. Nothing but an old gum wrapper. Almost desperate by this point, he felt around in his jacket pockets, inside and out. All empty. The money was nowhere to be found.

"Sir, you do plan on paying, don't you?"

Whoever had taken Sougo's money was going to pay. He had a special torture in mind when he caught up with the thief, one involving hot coals, chains, a buzz saw, and a vegetable peeler used with extreme precision. The pickpocket was going to beg for death, and Sougo would oblige…eventually.

"If you aren't going to pay for your meal, I'm going to call the authorities."

"No need for that, uh-huh," a half-familiar voice interrupted. "I'll take care of it." A woman—a ridiculously beautiful woman, some annoying part of Sougo's brain wanted to add—handed a few bills to the agitated waitress. She brushed a lock of long hair out of her face and glared at Sougo fiercely. "Let's go. Sadaharu ran off and we have to find him."

"Do I know you?" Sougo asked blankly. She was familiar—her coloring, her voice, and above all the folded purple parasol she was holding—but it couldn't be. This was an adult woman. She had an hourglass figure that filled out her dress and curves where he'd never noticed any on the China girl. Did Kagura have another troublesome sibling she'd never mentioned? This woman's face was sharper and more refined, and her hair was lacking China's signature bangs-and-buns style—instead, it was long and loose, falling past the small of her back.

Not to mention her tits. Easily a D cup, whereas China would be lucky to fill out a B cup on her best day. Actually, this woman's breasts might even be DD—

"What? It's me, Kagura- _STOP STARING AT MY CHEST, YOU BASTARD!_ " Onlookers gasped in dismay as the young woman smacked Sougo hard enough to send him flying out the door of the shop. He landed roughly in the street, his coat narrowly missing a patch of filthy mud.

As soon as he got to his feet, Sougo had his bazooka aimed at the self-proclaimed Kagura, ready to fire. "Don't call yourself Kagura unless you have a flat chest and you wear penis sheaths on your head."

Kagura glared and held up her hands threateningly. Oh, he wanted to fight, did he? Well, she had a week's worth of pent-up frustration to take out. From being turned into a (semi) helpless little girl to being kidnapped by Aniki and being taught the lesson, once again, that someone she loved saw her as nothing more than a waste of her Yato blood, Kagura had had enough. And now that she'd borrowed this body from her future self, she was spoiling for a fight. Sougo, though… He wasn't the one she was supposed to be fighting.

She lowered her hands. "It's really me! Instead of going back to my 15-year-old body, I told the doctor I wanted to be 19. And my chest wasn't flat before, uh-huh!"

Sougo ignored the last comment, more interested in the rest. He wanted to tell her that there was no way the monster girl he knew would ever grow up to be such a beauty, but she'd probably take it as a compliment. Not that she didn't sort of deserve one.

Was that really her, his—well, not _his_ China girl, but the one he knew—at 19? Could a person really change this much in four years? But no— her eyes were the same as they always had been. Round, expressive, their color a powerful contrast to the rest of her pale face. Their blue wasn't cool like the ocean or the sky. Kagura's eyes didn't freeze, they burned. Like blue fire. That much hadn't changed.

The appropriate amount of time to stare into another person's face had passed, and Kagura was looking at him oddly. Sougo set down his bazooka for something to do, but another thought occurred to him: "Why 19? Are you just planning to stay like this forever? Do you even realize you just shaved four years off your lifespan? Not that I'm complaining."

Kagura's face shifted into a haughty smirk. "Aww, don't cry 'cause the number of years you get to spend in the presence of the amazing Kagura-sama is four less. The doc gave me a potion that'll give me back my body when I finish taking care of things, uh-huh."

Sougo crossed his arms and assumed an identical expression. "Did you just imply we're going to be together for the rest of our lives? I don't need a wife with monstrous strength like you, but I'll take a guard dog. I'll even train you to follow commands—since you only know 'speak', I'll have to teach you 'stay', 'lie down', and 'beg'."

Kagura gave an indignant squawk at his suggestion, but Sougo continued before she could get a retort in. "And what do you mean by taking care of things?"

She narrowed her eyes. Trying to change the subject, was he? She could always get him back for that later. And as for what he'd just asked her, well, she could keep her plans to herself, but it might go more smoothly if he knew what was going on.

It was a decision she'd been thinking about since she gained back her memories. She was tired of feeling weak.

"This body…is stronger than my usual one. It's the strength of my 19-year-old self. I'm gonna use it to prove to that stupid brother of mine that by the time I'm as old as he is now, I'll be just as strong, uh-huh. I'll show him that I'm not weak, once and for all."

"And how do you plan on doing that? Weightlifting competition?"

Kagura looked uncharacteristically serious, the effect doubled by her matured features. "We're going to settle this. Like members of the Yato clan."


	11. Rome pt ii

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 10 pt. ii: When in Rome, Do as the Germanic Tribes Did

* * *

" _This body…is stronger than my usual one. It's the strength of my 19-year-old self. I'm gonna use it to prove to that stupid brother of mine that by the time I'm as old as he is now, I'll be just as strong, uh-huh. I'll show him that I'm not weak, once and for all."_

" _And how do you plan on doing that? Weightlifting competition?"_

 _Kagura looked uncharacteristically serious, the effect doubled by her matured features. "We're going to settle this. Like members of the Yato clan."_

* * *

Sougo raised an eyebrow. 'Like members of the Yato clan'? Really? Could she be any more dramatic?

But still…her meaning was clear. If she was going to try to prove her strength to her brother by fighting him, maybe drama was appropriate. Sougo knew firsthand how good a fighter Kagura was, but this was something else. Borrowing the strength of your 19-year-old self to show your 19-year-old brother that you're on the same level as he is—it was a plan that only Kagura would have thought of.

"That guy's way past you in terms of strength," Sougo informed her matter-of-factly. "Have you ever fought him before?"

"Twice." She was going to stop there, but Sougo looked interested for some reason. "Once was when we were trying to protect the Shogun, uh-huh. He was injured-"

"Where?" Sougo interrupted, remembering his own fight with Kamui during that arc.

"In Iga."

"No, where was he injured?"

Kagura paused and tapped a finger on her lip. That fight happened over a year ago, but she could remember it clearly, if only because of the significance of her opponent. "You remember, don't you? You were the one who did that to him. He was hurt on his hand. And on his chest. It was lucky for me, uh-huh. I was probably only able to survive in that fight because of those injuries."

Sougo felt something twitch in his chest, something like satisfaction. He did remember, clearly, that he was the one who'd given Kamui those wounds. He wasn't sure why he wasn't lording it over her that she owed him her life (just like he hadn't lorded it over her when she'd brought it up in that alley after Shige Shige's death), but it still felt good to know. "Did you win or lose?"

"We didn't get to finish." Kagura answered, reflecting on the battle. It was the first time he'd bothered to _really_ acknowledge her (aside from his nonchalant murder attempt in Yoshiwara) since he left their home all those years ago. Kagura had learned then that the only way they could communicate was with their fists…

"And the other time you fought? How did that turn out?"

"We both gave up, uh-huh. He lost control—all of us Yorozuya plus that Oji-san from the ship were fighting him, and then he and I both gave up and passed out."

' _Lost control'…so he awakened?_ Sougo hadn't forgotten Kamui's little Yato biology lesson from the pirate ship. With Kamui in that state, the entire Yorozuya plus a experienced Yato hadn't been enough to secure a victory? "What are you going to do if you're not strong enough? Even if your 19-year-old body has better muscles, it's still being controlled by the same stupid 15-year-old."

"Shut up, sadist! I'm not like you Earthlings, uh-huh. Us Yato use our instincts and our bodies to fight. I'll _adapt_."

"And if you still can't beat him? You have no guarantees this body is strong enough."

Kagura clenched her fists. "It is. It's strong enough."

It had to be. Because this time, there was no going back. If she couldn't win this time, she'd really have to let go of hope. Let go of the past. She'd tried to do it so many times, but in the end the Yato always learned with their fists. She didn't know how to give up on her brother, so this time, she had to win.

"This isn't a game you can win by hoping and wishing, China. If you overestimate yourself, your brother will kill you." Sougo looked at Kagura's face for a reaction, but she was looking at the ground and her hair was obstructing her face from view.

"I already know that." Her voice was trembling. "I already know!"

Sougo wanted to tell her to look up, wanted to see if she was crying—she seemed to do a fair bit of that when she was a little kid, and maybe the habit had carried over—but the sound of a dog barking and the accompanying crashes of its footsteps stopped him. To the shock and horror of the pedestrians, Sadaharu was barreling down the street toward its owner with a caravan's worth of shopping bags and packages tied to its back.

 _Oh, so that's where my money went_. Technically Umibouzu had given that money to Sougo to give to Kagura, but there was no reason for her to know that. She must've taken it from his pocket like some common criminal. Definitely a chargeable offense, but it would have to wait—the animal was tugging on Kagura's arm pretty insistently, and Sougo could tell it was only because of her Yato super strength that Kagura wasn't being dragged forward.

"What's wrong, Sadaharu? Gotta poo?" Kagura asked, wrenching her hand out of her dog's slimy mouth and attempting to wipe the leftover spit on Sougo's jacket. Sadaharu shook his head in apparent distress, motioning with his nose to the street behind him.

Kagura raised an eyebrow in questioning but before she could allow her dog to lead her anywhere, a hand on her arm stopped her.

"Would you be Miss Kagura? Captain Okita's companion?"

It was the Oukoku Amanto who'd greeted her and Sougo at the terminal earlier, the one who'd acted all excited like he'd never seen a kid before. What was his name again? Jirou? No, it was more like…Juurou, right? Kagura opened her mouth to ask, but catching sight of Sougo raising his rocket launcher, she thought better of it and decided to duck for cover instead. Luckily, it appeared Sougo's ire—and his weapon—were directed at Juurou.

The guard barely managed to step out of the way to avoid the imminent explosion but he looked unfazed. "You Earthlings really do like the forceful approach, no?"

"Bastard," Sougo growled. "You're going to pay me back for lunch. And I'm going to pay you back for running off and leaving me with the bill." He adjusted the bazooka on his shoulder.

"Oh, that's what you're mad about?" Juurou chucked and ran his fingertips through his long hair, which was tied up in a queue in the traditional style of the Royal Guard. "I thought you would just use your diplomat's seal to pay."

"My what?" Sougo asked, not lowering the weapon.

"I explained all of this at the start of the meeting today. You really were sleeping, weren't you?"

Sougo cocked the bazooka and aimed it at Juurou's crotch.

"Alright, alright! I gave you the seal this morning, didn't I? Metal stamp, has Princess Ahon's face on it? It marks you as a guest of the government. You can use it to pay for things without money."

Oh, that. Sougo pulled it out. From beside him, Kagura snuck a glance at the rather piggish face inscribed on the seal. "No wonder she's named Princess Aho. She looks like an idiot," Kagura observed, and Sougo couldn't help but agree.

"It's Princess _Ahon_ , young lady. Ahon, not Aho. Although she is an idiot," Juurou remarked. "Miss Kagura, you certainly don't mince your words. You know, that's an attractive quality in a woman."

Kagura turned to look at Juurou, eyebrows raised. Sougo was wearing the exact same expression. Did she just get hit on by an adult man? _Impossible_. That only happened in Umibouzu's nightmares about his cute unmarried daughter being preyed on by the unreliable white-haired samurai she was living with.

Then again, she did look pretty grown up right now.

Undeterred by the looks the two teens were sharing, Juurou continued. "If you're free tonight, would you like me to show you around the city? I'm sure Captain Okita can entertain himself." He smiled, cocked his head to the side, and put a hand on the small of Kagura's back.

For a second, all was silent. Then, Sougo doubled over in uncontrollable laughter.

Kagura's face was burning red as she aimed a kick at her rival. "What's so damn funny, uh-huh?"

Sougo could hardly speak between gasps of laughter. " _C-China…you…propositioned by…46-year-old alien…never gonna let you live this down…_ "

"Shut up!" Kagura twisted away from Juurou's hand without thinking so she could throw a punch at Sougo.

Juurou cocked an eyebrow. Was it something he'd said?

Sougo wiped a tear away and turned to face Juurou. "I have no idea what you see in this monster girl, but I'll let you know right now—if I'm too young to drink, she's _way_ too young for you."

Juurou almost protested—surely Miss Kagura could decide for herself where to spend her time—but there was a glint in Sougo's eyes that stopped him. Perhaps the little fistfight she and Captain Okita were now engaging in was some sort of harmless Earth mating ritual. Juurou couldn't help but think of it as odd—weren't lovers supposed to be kind to each other?—but who was he to judge?

When a particularly well-placed kick from Sougo sent Kagura skidding back a few feet with an angry red welt throbbing on her cheek, Juurou raised an eyebrow and rethought his use of the word 'harmless'.

"Ugh! Sougo, you— you idiot! I'm done with this! Sadaharu was trying to show me something earlier. I'm going." Kagura (who, by this point, had pretty much forgotten Juurou's offer) jumped onto her dog and pushed the shopping bags out of the way to clear a place to sit.

Sougo stopped in his tracks, momentarily stunned by her use of his given name. When had that become a habit of hers? Had she ever called him that before? Actually, she had, hadn't she…as a 5-year-old. Had she forgotten to switch back to referring to him only using insulting nicknames?

It was kind of unsettling, but he wouldn't point it out just yet. Not when he could wait and tease her about it later. He jogged to catch up to Sadaharu and vaulted smoothly onto the dog's back, much to Kagura's annoyance. However, she had no time to argue with Sougo—Sadaharu was intent on whatever target he was pursuing and refused to stop for his master's petty squabbles.

As Juurou watched the dog and its two passengers weave their way south through crowds of pedestrians with a mix of bewilderment and amusement, the range of mountains that reached up on the southern border caught his eye. Truly a majestic thing it was, that mountain range, with the nine austere faces of the last nine regents of Oukoku carved into the stone, always watching over the capital.

The left-most visage was obscured by scaffolding and plastic sheeting—the princess's face was still in the process of being carved from the rock. Proceedings had been temporarily halted (the princess had thrown a temper tantrum when she saw the plans for her carving and demanded she be sculpted with larger eyes and slimmer cheeks), but Juurou was certain that in time, both the carving and the princess herself would emerge, dignified and proud, to watch over her people.

A glance at the position of the sun almost breaching the horizon as it rose brought Juurou back to himself. Was it that late already? His break had ended a long time ago. The real princess would be expecting him. He offered a quick bow to the her yet-unfinished likeness on the mountain.

"I pray that you have not yet noticed my absence, Princess Aho…I mean, Princess Ahon."

…

Kagura always liked riding Sadaharu when he was running. The wind on her face, the buildings falling into the distance as they raced ahead, the feeling of Sadaharu's thick white fur in her grip—it made her feel like a great warrior riding her steed into battle. She and Sadaharu had a connection that went beyond just a master and a pet. They did their best to understand each other. And that was why she knew that whatever Sadaharu was running toward so single-mindedly was important.

But _why_ couldn't he stop for just three damn seconds? Three seconds was all it would take for Kagura to turn around and smack the sadist sitting behind her hard enough to make him fall off. Scratch that—Sadaharu didn't even need to stop. All he had to do was slow down and give Kagura a chance to kick Sougo in the gut or wherever else she could reach to dislodge him. Sougo had no right to be sitting there getting his do-S germs all over Sadaharu!

As if he could sense her thoughts, Sougo wrapped his arms around Kagura's torso in a death grip. "Looks like you still haven't learned to walk your pet at a reasonable speed. Don't even think about pushing me off, China girl."

"Gyah!" Kagura bit her lip and raked her fingernails against the arms that were squeezing the life out of her poor stomach.

Sougo hissed in pain but held firm. "If I fall, you're falling too- pteh!" She heard a spitting noise. "Your hair's getting in my face, China!"

Sadaharu still refused to stop running full-speed ahead, so Kagura was forced to search for a compromise. What with how tight Sougo was squeezing her, she was feeling an urge to do the thing that she was famous for among shounen manga heroines—and she wasn't talking about nose picking. "I'll tie my hair up if you loosen your grip," she offered through gritted teeth. When Sougo didn't respond, she added, "If you don't, you're gonna get all up close and familiar with what I ate for lunch in about ten seconds, uh-huh."

"Disgusting," Sougo said, but his grip let up a little nonetheless. Kagura reached upward and used the elastics she usually used for her buns to tie her hair in two pigtails that billowed on either side of Sougo like twin flags in the wind. She wouldn't be able to make her signature buns in this situation, and besides, her favorite jockstra- bun covers had been left on Aniki's ship with the rest of her things. Pigtails would have to do for now.

"What's with your hair, anyway? Why is it so long?" Sougo asked from behind her, half shouting due to the volume of the wind in their ears.

Well, he hadn't insulted her at all with that query, so she could be gracious and answer. "When the doc turned me from a kid to an adult, I grew up 14 years, so my hair grew 14 years worth too. So did my fingernails, but they fell off right away." Kagura had been a little disappointed by that. Those long, twisted nails hanging off her fingers had looked sick as hell.

"I cut off most of the hair 'cause it was getting in the way." In all honesty, she could have cut off more, but it was cool to have such long hair. She'd never had the patience to grow it out to such a length naturally, but she liked the way it looked with her grown-up 19-year-old appearance.

She'd chosen the age of 19 to be able to pit her strength against her brother's fairly, but she was also pretty pleased with the appearance of this body. Kagura had always known that one day she'd grow up to be a mature beauty like Mami, but it was nice to have validation. And it wasn't just her long legs and figure that gave her pride—she could feel power, too, humming like electricity in her muscles. At 19, her body was much stronger than it had been at 15. She'd had to hold back when she fought Sougo before—not that they ever really went all out against each other, but this time she'd consciously pulled her punches to avoid causing property damage. She couldn't wait to try out her older self's true strength. Was this what drove Kamui to constantly seek out new opponents to clash with? Feeling the energy lighting up her nerves underneath her skin, the power aching to be released through her bare hands, she could almost understand the impulse.

Still… Kagura's fingers made fists, and her ragged fingernails dug pink crescents into her palms. What if, like Sougo had said, she still wasn't strong enough? Maybe she should take a few days off before she left the planet to search for and challenge Kamui. She could train a little in this city, measure her abilities, get used to this body. She could ask the sadist to spar with her seriously. That could be fun. That wouldn't count as running away, would it? It wasn't like she was scared of Kamui.

No…as little as she wanted to admit it, she was scared. Scared of losing the fight, scared of losing control, scared of losing the last little hope she had left for him. But it didn't matter. If she didn't fight him, it would be the same as losing anyway.

It wasn't long before the city streets began to thin out, shops and businesses replaced by homes and then trees and wildlife. Soon they were out of the city completely, surrounded instead by hilly forest—they were nearing the carved mountains. Despite the climbing altitude, Sadaharu showed no signs of stopping. "Where is this dog taking us?" Sougo asked.

"Sadaharu's really smart. I think he caught a scent or something, uh-huh," Kagura answered, although she wasn't totally sure either. If they were on Earth, she'd assume Gin-chan or Shinpachi was waiting for her; but on this planet, she didn't know what Sadaharu would be pursuing with such—ahem— _dogged_ determination. Her questions would soon be answered, however, because Sadaharu was slowing and coming to a stop.

Kagura and Sougo slid down off Sadaharu's back and observed their surroundings. They'd been taken to a wide ledge high on one of the mountains, directly under one of the massive carved faces, although some sort of wooden frame structure was obstructing it from view. To the north Kagura could see the entire capital city stretched out before her in all its glory, made more beautiful by the picturesque sky that hung above. The sun was just barely beginning to rise, casting cotton-candy-pink light onto the clouds above, but the sky was still deep blue.

"Didn't think a beast girl like you would be able to appreciate a view like this," Sougo commented, but there was no animosity in his voice. Less animosity than usual, at least. He was looking toward the city as well, leaning against Sadaharu, arms folded.

Kagura looked over to him an bit her lip. For the first time since turning back from a child, she felt a little uncertain of how things were between them. Sure, they were rivals and hated each other's guts, but he'd witnessed a lot of embarrassing things she'd done and even supported her on more than one occasion.

No…no. It was him, after all. Business as usual. "Didn't think a super sadist like you would be able to enjoy anything that didn't involve causing pain, uh-huh." Weak, as comebacks came, but obligatory.

"Now, now, don't bicker, you two," a foreign voice sounded from behind Kagura, and she snapped her head away from the pretty scenery to search for the source.

There was someone sitting high up on the scaffolding, little more than a silhouette…but the silhouette was holding an umbrella. Kagura squinted to get a better look, then raised her guard as she recognized the familiar face.

Was that…? Why was he here? Now?

A warning look from Sougo brought Kagura back to herself. This was it. No running away.

The figure dropped down from his wooden perch to land on the ledge across from the two of them. Kagura could feel her blood searing through her veins as her eyes met her brother's.

"It really is a spectacular view," said Kamui, the shadow of a smile etched, as always, on his face.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Big bro enters the fold once more. Things are about to get ugly…_

 _In case you didn't know, "aho" means "idiot" in the Kansai dialect._

 _Make sure to leave feedback so I know what you thought/what you want to see more of/what you're looking forward to! You might be tired of hearing it by now, but trust me—I'll never get tired of hearing you guys' thoughts. Thanks!_

 _Next time, Chapter 11:_ Kids with Light Skin Should Wear SPF 50 When Playing in the Sun


	12. Sun

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 11: Kids with Light Skin Should Wear SPF 50 When Playing in the Sun

…

 _ **Notes**_ _:_

 _Me: *writes a story about three characters who are constantly in conflict and who love to fight*_

 _Also me: why do I have to write so many fight scenes? A mystery_

…

 _This chapter is extremely long, clocking in at over 6,000 words and 18 pages. I usually try to avoid chapters this long, but it kind of just…happened. Sorry about that! It took forever to edit, so forgive me (and/or let me know) if there are some little issues that I missed._

* * *

Kamui had been lucky this time.

The escape pod had touched down in the wilderness southwest of the capital. Kamui wasn't used to piloting the miniature aircraft—Abuto had given him a crash course on flying the division ship in the old days, but Kamui was out of practice. Besides, the escape pod wasn't designed for precision. He'd clipped a few trees when he came down, but the pod itself was intact.

The trek to the city through the night-darkened woods had taken less than an hour. He'd expected to have to seek her out, but within twenty minutes a massive dog— _her pet_ , he remembered, _it was there when Umibouzu took her from the pirate ship_ —appeared out of an alleyway to growl at him. Apparently it had recognized him. Smarter than an ordinary dog, then.

Kamui had allowed it to crouch into a defensive position and bare its teeth at him, but they both knew that Kamui's real target was elsewhere. "Bring Kagura to the mountains when she's ready to face me," he'd told the dog, and he left to wait for her on the cliffs.

Kagura would come. He knew she would. They had a score to settle. He knew he'd have an advantage if they fought in the capital—he didn't care about putting civilians at risk by fighting in the streets, but she would pull her punches, and he didn't want to give her the handicap. The remote mountain range was the right place to end things.

Because it _had_ to end here. They'd fought twice, but she'd never lost to him. Never learned her lesson. And she never would, unless he beat it into her.

He was going to force her to lose control, to 'awaken', and in doing so prove to her that her Yato blood could never be escaped. With this fight, he was going to break the chains binding her darker nature once and for all, make her come to terms with the bloodlust that ruled every one of the Yato clan.

She'd hate him for it, but she already hated him, didn't she? It didn't matter. If he let her go now, one day in the future she would find herself in a losing fight and the Yato blood would overtake her. If he wasn't around to stop her, to _beat_ her, she would end up hating herself even more. But if he brought out the monster in her, she'd have to accept who she really was. _What_ she really was.

And then she would understand everything.

She'd understand why she couldn't stay on Earth and play house with humans. She'd understand why she couldn't leave her opponents alive once she beat them. And she'd understand _him_. Why he was cruel, and brutal, and all the things that made her look at him with fear in her eyes (or even worse, with hope—as if he could ever go back to being the gentle brother he'd been ten years ago). Why he left her and their dying mother. Why he couldn't be a part of her life. Why 'family' was an empty word to the Yato.

Kamui was going to beat Kagura within an inch of her life, and when her survival instincts took over, he was going to beat her again. He was just helping her. Protecting her. After all, it was a big brother's responsibility to protect his little sister, even if he had to tear her apart to do it.

He'd been waiting only a couple hours when he caught sight of the dog and its master racing up to the cliffside to greet him. Though her face was obscured from his view by her umbrella, there was no one else it could be. She'd brought along the earth policeman for some reason—a surprise, but Kamui knew Kagura wouldn't allow the policeman to interfere. This wasn't a fight that outsiders could intrude upon.

When the dog came to the cliff ledge directly below Kamui, his sister and the Earthling dismounted and stared out at the view of the city. What, she wasn't expecting him? He let them take in the scenery for a few moments, waiting for Kagura to notice him behind her. Really, what kind of Yato couldn't sense the presence of an enemy at this distance? Her instincts were so dull, it was laughable.

The earth policeman was the first to break the silence, saying something mildly insulting to Kagura. She turned toward him and issued a mildly insulting retort of her own. Kamui smiled. "Now, now, don't bicker, you two."

Two heads snapped toward where he was sitting high above on the scaffolding. Kamui vaguely wished Kagura's umbrella wasn't blocking his view of her face. Was she startled? Determined? Angry? He leapt down from his perch to stand before her. "It really is a spectacular view."

Well, Kagura certainly looked startled. But as their eyes met, Kamui couldn't help feeling a sting of surprise as well. The woman he was facing _was_ Kagura, right? It must be, he could _smell_ her—but at the same time, it wasn't.

Aside from the recent kidnapping incident, Kamui hadn't seen his sister since the battle on Rakuyou over a year ago. She'd been fourteen then, short and crude, with a baby face that she hadn't completely grown out of and a voice that sounded more like H*ppy from Fai*y Tai* than a proper tsundere heroine. Too tomboyish to be called pretty and too immature to be anything close to beautiful. Cute, maybe (Kagura had always had a face that you wanted to tease and you couldn't say no to at the same time) but that was beside the point. Kamui knew her appearance might have changed in the past year, but this…this was something else.

This woman had Kagura's pale skin, her orange hair, and her blue eyes—the same as Kamui's—but she was in a completely different class than the bratty little sister Kamui remembered. This woman…looked like his mother.

As soon as the thought crossed Kamui's mind, he caught it and snuffed it out. _Not possible._ Still, he was on edge. "Is that you, Kagura?"

Kagura smirked, recognizing the surprise on her brother's face. "Told you I'd grow up to have long legs like Mami. Looks like I got all her genes and you got all of the baldy's, uh-huh. Your hair's definitely gonna start falling out."

Well, that was his _cute_ little sister, all right. "Oh? Given what you looked like a year ago, I can only assume you've thrown away the last vestiges of pride as a member of the Yato clan and resorted to plastic surgery."

Predictably, Kagura bristled. "This is my real, grown-up appearance! Just not my current appearance. I borrowed this body from my 19-year-old self to fight you, 'cause I know by the time I'm your age, I'll be strong enough to beat you! I'm a lot stronger now, uh-huh!"

So that was why she looked so much older than 15. If she was telling the truth, then it might be fun to see if her strength had really changed…but it also might be harder to force her into awakening. "Are you planning to stay like this forever?"

"I don't need to. The doctor who let me grow up into this body gave me a potion that'll give me back my real 15-year-old body—" Kagura's eyes widened and she turned to Sougo (for lack of a better recipient). "Satan's balls!"

Sougo (who had been receiving heavy 'stay away from this conversation' vibes from Kamui) sneered at Kagura. "A girl shouldn't say 'Satan's balls', even a girl with no feminine appeal like you. It makes you sound poor, China."

Kagura ignored him. "I forgot the potion at the doctor's office! Go get it for me, sadist!"

For a second, everything was silent. Then Sougo reached out to pinch Kagura's cheek, pulling on it with a fury that gave Kagura the impression he was trying to peel off her skin like a face mask. "Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-"

"You mean to tell me…we came all the way up here…and you want me to hike down this mountain to look for something you left behind, idiot girl?" Sougo growled, a vein sticking out on his forehead. "My name isn't Sadaharu. I don't remember agreeing to be your dog."

Kagura pried Sougo's fingers off her cheek with no small effort. "Sadaharu can take you there, uh-huh. Just…please?"

' _Please?' That's not like her_ , Sougo thought. But he could tell there was something else in her request, something besides absentmindedness and the desire to order him around. Desperation. She was trying to get him and the dog out of the way.

That meant she really planned on fighting Kamui—and she planned to fight him alone. With her pet gone she'd have no escape if she lost, and with Sougo gone she'd have no chance of an ally against her brother. She wasn't planning on leaving herself a way out.

 _Shit_. From the whimpers and growls he was hearing, Sougo could tell the dog wasn't too happy about Kagura's plan—and neither was Sougo, for that matter. He knew firsthand how dangerous Kamui was. Kagura wouldn't fight to kill—she never did, as far as he knew—but the other Yato was another story. Kagura had said she was strong enough to beat her brother, but how could she actually know that? She was betting on a horse that had never run.

If Sougo just left her now, and she died, he'd get in serious trouble with the chief. And then he'd probably get sliced to pieces by Danna. Besides… He closed his eyes and pictured her. Not the 5-year-old kid, or the 19-year-old woman, but the 15-year-old she really was. The twin buns, the cocky smile, the fiery eyes always challenging him to another rematch. Such a nuisance.

If Sougo let Kamui kill that girl, she'd probably haunt him 'til the day he died.

"Get it yourself, China. I want to watch this," Sougo told her, settling back to lean on Sadaharu. The dog barked in agreement.

Kagura's eyes hardened. She'd wanted to give them a chance to get away. This was between her and her brother, their last fight. This time, there would be no interruptions. This time, there would be no escape. This time, no one would come to her rescue. Sougo had saved her life before, and she knew if she was in a rough spot he might do it again. She couldn't let that happen. This thing between her and Kamui had to be over. "Too bad," she said to Sougo.

Kamui watched in mild interest as his sister dropped her umbrella, picked up the Shinsengumi officer by his belt, and flung him over the cliff. Next, she cornered her massive pet dog, hoisted him into the air, and tossed him over as well (much more gently than she'd thrown Sougo, Kamui observed). The subsequent sounds of swearing and angry barking from below assured Kamui that the two were very much alive.

Kagura looked down at Sadaharu and the sadist. They were on a lower mountain shelf, part of the path they'd taken to get up here. It was too far for either the human or the Inugami to be able to climb the cliff directly back up, but not so far that either had suffered any serious injuries. From the way Sougo was yelling up at her (words that cannot be reprinted here out of concern for the psychological welfare of the readers), he'd gotten bruises and nothing else. Sadaharu, talented dog that he was, had landed on his feet and wasn't hurt at all.

Now, for the next issue. The zig-zagging path that they'd originally taken to get up to the ledge where Kagura was now was connected to the lower shelf she'd punted her companions to. Sougo was already starting back up the path to exact revenge on her. She needed to block the path somehow.

Kagura walked a little further west on the ledge until she was away from the scaffolding and the mountain that rose up behind her was a bare expanse of jagged rock. Okay. Time to give her new muscles a test drive. She planted her feet, faced the cliffside, took a deep breath, and felt the cool breeze pull stray strands of hair across her neck and shoulders. Kagura gathered her strength— _she could practically see it, like glowing smoke_ —and let it concentrate in the muscles of her fist, before snapping forward to punch into the stone.

The mountain shuddered.

Kagura's senses, on high alert, processed the next few seconds carefully, as if she were viewing them in slow motion. A crack split the rock where her fist had connected and raced up the cliffside, rending millennia-old stone from stone and spiderwebbing out in radiating lines like a ripple in the mountain itself ( _just like the force sensor in the pit in Aniki's training gym_ , came an absent thought, dismissed as soon as it was recognized). Kagura pulled her hand back and leapt out of the way of the imminent crash. The cliff to the left of the scaffolding disintegrated into a mixture of stone shards and dust, while the mountain face above collapsed under its own weight and came crashing onto the juncture between the lower shelf and the higher ledge.

Sougo, who'd followed the path upward, had almost reached the upper ledge when Kagura's punch landed. He saw her hit the rock and felt the vibration through the soles of his boots, a scanty few seconds of warning to get away before the rock wall broke into an avalanche of massive boulders.

Kagura had decimated a portion of mountain the size of a spaceship. A _fucking_ spaceship. If he'd been twenty feet closer to her, he'd have been crushed to death by the pile of rocks and debris that was now blocking the path.

 _Damn it._ But at least if she could hit that hard, she might have a chance against her brother. Sougo ran back down the path to Sadaharu to figure out his next move.

Kagura walked back to her brother. He was spinning the handle of his umbrella in his hands, looking up at the part of the mountain she'd destroyed the way most people look at fireworks.

"I was going to go up into space and track you down," said Kagura, "but you're already here, uh-huh."

"I was looking for you," Kamui said, not bothering to turn toward her.

"I know what you wanted to do with the kid me. You wanted to keep me like that and make me like you, uh-huh. It's too late."

"I know. Now I'm just here to fight."

"You've never wanted to fight me before."

Kamui was silent for a moment, and then he slowly turned away from the cliffside to look at her with that innocent smile that made him look younger than he was. "This time I want to show you something."

Kagura could feel the hairs on the back of her neck rise. "What?"

Kamui's eyes slid open, sharp and dark-lined with brutality. "Yourself, Kagura. Your true nature. A Yato who tries to outrun her blood will never catch up to me."

Kagura picked up her umbrella from the ground and pointed it at him. A challenge. _Come and try me, baka Aniki. I won't lose._

Kamui pulled forward. _Sorry, little sister, but I don't plan on making this easy._

Kagura's eyes snapped upward and she tensed, her muscles automatically preparing for battle. He was fast—but then she'd known that. And she was fast too. She knew enough about how he liked to fight to predict what his first move would be from this position. Sure enough—he was above her, preparing to kick with the added advantage of gravity to incapacitate her. He'd be expecting her to move out of the way—any other opponent would, with the incredible force bearing down on them—but Kagura didn't need to. The way the mountain had come crashing down under her punch was proof that she hadn't overestimated this body's strength. Rather than shift out of his range, Kagura threw her arm up to catch Kamui's ankle and try to slam him into the ground.

As soon as she had a grip on him, Kagura had to brace herself against the weight of his kick. _How is he_ this _strong!?_ The stone ledge shattered under her heels and the force jarred her bone-deep. She slid back a few inches but set her teeth and growled a war cry as she swung his body toward the rock ledge.

Kamui's upper body flew toward the ground with enough force to crack the stone, but he twisted midair, using her grip as leverage to aim another kick at Kagura's head with his free leg. She dodged it—barely—and increased the strength of her grip on his ankle from 'sturdy' to 'crushing', but he was undeterred—he slammed his hands into the ground, rolled backward in a makeshift handstand, and dragged Kagura forward toward the rocky ground so quick that Kagura was caught off balance before she could release his ankle, and the side of her arm scraped against the stone. Kamui took advantage of her momentary distraction to flick his umbrella into position and fire up into his sister's stomach. This, though, she'd expected, and the bullets made contact not in her flesh but harmlessly against the shield formed by her own umbrella.

And there- the edge of his cloak fluttered up in the air next to her hand and she took the opportunity to catch it the sun-blocking fabric and wrench it away from him as hard as she could, taking some of the fabric of his heavy coat with it.

As soon as he noticed the cloak tearing, Kamui jumped back onto his feet. "On the defensive already? That's no fun. Try a little harder, Kagura."

"Don't try to hide your injuries from me, uh-huh. How's your ankle?" Kagura could see a spot of red on Kamui's pant leg where she'd tried to crush his ankle. She hadn't been able to hold it long enough to do any real damage, but he was actually _bleeding_. And better yet, she'd managed to pull off his cloak, exposing his face and neck to the sun.

"Oh, you actually gave me a scratch. Good job. It won't be enough, though."

He lashed forward to deliver a punch in the stomach. She cringed— _damn it, I saw that coming_ —and fought the instinct to curl forward, but the hit had been angled oddly and it wasn't as powerful as it could have been. Kagura allowed herself a half second to recover before she retaliated, jumping up and pulling a foot down in a high kick that boasted more power than speed, a replica of the move Kamui had used to start the fight.

Kamui used his arm to block it, but unlike her he'd underestimated his opponent's strength and was surprised when the bones of his wrist ground together and the rock under his shoes formed cracks in protest. Kagura took advantage of his momentary preoccupation to retract her leg and send a flurry of lightning-quick bullets at his face and chest. Only the first grazed him on the shoulder before he regained his senses and blocked the rest, but it was enough to disrupt his balance. Kagura didn't even have to think before she slammed a hand flat into the center of his chest with approximately the same force as an short-range missile. A human being would have been left with a crater in his chest. An average Yato would have fallen over and checked for broken bones.

Kamui winced.

It was tiny. Kagura barely caught it. But she held on to the image of him wincing as she returned his next blows. They hadn't started fighting all-out yet, but Kagura could already tell her physical strength in this body was on Aniki's level. If it hadn't been, she'd have lost by now. Or at least suffered a few major injuries.

Now, as Kamui became more forceful and it was clear he was no longer testing her, she could feel every sense open and aware, letting her body respond to her will without conscious thought. She was practically tingling.

So this was what it felt like to fight in the body of an adult Yato. No wonder Aniki liked it so much. The rising sun in her eyes, the breeze against her skin, the taste of her own blood in her mouth… Kagura felt alive.

Kamui's eyes followed Kagura carefully as she wiped a line of blood away from her face. The two of them had both suffered injuries, but nothing more serious than a minor fracture here and there. She was clearly panting from exertion, but she didn't look tired. In fact, her eyes were burning and there was a faint grin on her lips. She was savoring this fight, just as Kamui would have been—if he didn't have another objective in mind. He should have been able to release her limiters by now. It would seem what she'd said earlier could prove to be true: by the time she was as old as he was now, she'd be just as strong.

He hadn't thought the fight would last this long. Oukoku's sun was affecting him too much for his liking, enough to make his stamina suffer. It was already peeking over the horizon, and as long as it was in the sky Kagura would have an advantage. Clearly her impulse to tear his clothing earlier had been more than an accident. _Since when did Kagura bother to think strategically in a fight?_ he thought, almost fondly.

Even if their ability was evenly matched, Kamui was a pirate who spent the majority of his time in the dark void of space far away from any star, while Kagura spent her days with only her umbrella to protect her from Earth's sun. From what Kamui could tell, she had developed a far greater tolerance to sunlight than he had. The light of the rising sun was barely affecting her.

Kamui was a versatile fighter and as members of the Yato clan went, he didn't have a particularly high susceptibility to sunlight. However, the prolonged exposure was adding unpleasant weight to his movements. The longer they fought, the greater Kagura's advantage would become. As much as he was genuinely enjoying fighting a strong opponent, it would be better to end this.

But first… "Kagura."

She looked up at him.

"I told you why I wanted this fight. What about you? Why bother with me?"

Kagura's face was serious. "You always say I'm running away from my nature. Well, you're running away too, uh-huh. Just like my blood will always be a part of me, your past—your family—will always be a part of you. You want me to face up to my blood, but I'm going to prove to you that family doesn't make you weak."

"If you were in your real body you wouldn't be able to talk about strength," he replied.

She looked back at the pile of rocks from where she'd knocked down the cliffside. "The brother who thinks the definition of strength is 'the ability to destroy'… Even in my real body, I'm stronger than that idiot. No matter how old I am, I've always been stronger, uh-huh." Her grip tightened on her umbrella, and Kamui could see the outline of each stiff bone stretched out under her skin.

Her knuckles were dirty and scratched, and her eyes were glowing in the light of the dawning sun. "As long as I'm fighting for someone else's sake, I will be as strong as I have to be."

Kamui's mouth twitched. "Is that how it is? Then who are you fighting for this time, Kagura?"

Kagura's gaze was steady. "This time, I'm fighting to save my baka Aniki."

She was bearing down on him before she finished her sentence, slicing her umbrella down in a deadly arc to crash into the stone at his feet when he jumped back. The fragments of rock exploded outward but Kamui ignored the debris, allowing a few small shards to strike him so he could advance through the hail and aim a punch at Kagura's face. She ducked and dodged, but he was _so goddamn fast_ —before she could even sense that he'd changed direction, she felt his fingers curl around her upper arm and pull her into range.

 _Shit!_

Kagura's eyes widened and she tried to parry with her umbrella, but it was too late—Kamui's kick connected with the front of her torso…

She heard more than felt the fracture spreading through her ribs before her vision went black.

Now, that was a killing blow…or it would be on anyone else. Kamui know Kagura wouldn't die from something like this, but she'd be injured. He'd heard bones breaking. This should be enough to bring out her Yato instincts.

But her eyes were closed.

…

Kagura opened her eyes to darkness. Everything was black…but no, she could see herself, couldn't she? Like that time with the spirit of Lake Toya. She looked down at her arms, her legs, her…chest. This was her real body, her 15-year-old body, not the 19-year-old one she'd been borrowing. She put her hands on her modest (but respectable) bust to compare, privately mourning the loss of her older self's curves.

But how was this possible? She'd definitely left the potion to turn herself back at the doctor's office.

Maybe this was the afterlife. She couldn't feel any pain now, but she could still remember the instant of pure agony when Kamui had kicked her. Maybe she'd really died there.

Fury rose up, boiling, in her stomach. Dying at the young age of 15? At Kamui's hand? Right after she made such a cool speech? No way in hell. She was _Gintama_ 's heroine, the Queen of Kabukicho, daughter of the Master of Kouan and the greatest alien hunter in the galaxy, sister of the former Admiral of the Harusame. _No way in hell_ she could die so easily. This wasn't the afterlife.

What was this, then? A dream?

As soon as the thought crossed Kagura's mind, another girl appeared in front of her. _Another me._ This one was a little younger, wearing a familiar red kimono and striped stockings, her hair secured in a high bun with a single hairpin. There was blood on her hands.

Kagura—the real one—took a step back, then another.

The other Kagura's eyes were huge and bloodshot, straining against her face. Her irises were tiny holes of blue against her sclera. She was smiling—mindless, hungry.

The real Kagura recognized her immediately. She'd had nightmares about this version of herself. It was her, but it also wasn't. It was the true Yato nature she'd chained up deep inside herself, or rather, the beast she became when she succumbed to it.

"Aniki hit me hard," said the Yato version of Kagura, licking the blood off her lips.

"I'm not going to let you take over, uh-huh," the first Kagura said.

The Yato let her head loll to the side. "He hurt me. He hurt you."

"I'll kick his ass when I wake up," Kagura said.

"You won't wake up without my help."

Was that a warning or a threat? Kagura glared. "I'll beat you up right here if I have to, uh-huh."

"Man, you're really still just a kid, aren't you?" a new voice interrupted. Not the beast Kagura's rough whisper, and not quite Kagura's own voice. A third version of Kagura had appeared.

Tall, pretty, and with a chest to rival even Sacchan's, this new Kagura—'Kagura-san', the original Kagura decided for simplicity's sake—looked a lot like Mami. But Kagura could recognize her own eyes in Kagura-san's face. It was her, then, right? The Kagura-san standing in front of her was the 19-year-old body she'd been borrowing.

"Yep," said Kagura-san. "I'm you, in four years. Not just the body, but the mind too."

"What?" said Kagura. "Isn't this a dream, uh-huh?"

"A little bit. We're inside your mind. But since your mind's inside in my body, I'm somehow able to talk to you like this."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"It isn't supposed to."

"What about…" Kagura jabbed her thumb at the Yato version of herself.

Kagura-san shrugged and folded her arms. "She's inside you too, so she's here. I'm the body, she's the blood, and you're the mind—or the heart, I guess."

Kagura felt wary, but didn't pursue the subject. "What happened, uh-huh? Did I pass out when Aniki kicked me?"

Kagura-san nodded. "It's only been a second in the real world. When you were injured, my body's Yato survival instincts wanted to come out. Since you're scared of those instincts, you retreated into your mind instead."

"I don't really get it," said Kagura, "but I'm not just going to let that monster take over, uh-huh."

Kagura-san sighed and ran a hand through her long hair. "I know why you're scared of your instincts. I'm you, remember? Four years ago, I was facing this same decision. But you won't be able to win this fight if you keep denying your blood."

"Before Aniki got that kick in, he and I were fighting on equal terms! If I wake up, I can beat him with your body without losing control."

"You're half right," Kagura-san replied. "19-year-old Kagura might be just as strong as Kamui, but strength isn't everything. This fight will be decided by conviction, and Kamui's not going to hold back anymore. He's prepared to pass boundaries that you haven't. You won't be able to face him if you refuse to use your true strength."

Kagura glared at her future self. The Yato version of Kagura had remained silent, but she was still smiling her unhinged smile. How could Kagura-san say that? How could she ask Kagura to unchain that part of herself? "I don't want to lose control! I don't want to let _her_ take over!"

"Who said you have to let her take over?" asked Kagura-san. "Look at you, both of you! You hate that part of yourself so much that you've separated it completely. You're the one who created these two versions of 'Kagura', the girl and the beast. Instead of learning to control your instincts, you cut them off from yourself. And now you have no idea how to use them to serve your conscious will."

"Don't talk fancy just 'cause you're older, uh-huh," Kagura muttered. "And what do you mean, _use_ my Yato blood?"

"Fighting is what a Yato does best. There's a reason that other side of you was able to beat Abuto in Yoshiwara when you couldn't. Yato can rely on their instincts when they fight. How do you think Kamui runs wild all over the place without losing control completely? Even though he uses his Yato blood whenever he fights, you saw how different it was when he lost control of it on Rakuyou. Papi, too."

Kagura considered Kagura-san's words. Aniki definitely fought with his Yato blood, even when he hadn't totally snapped like he had during their fight on Rakuyou. "So I can get stronger without awakening?"

"It's not easy. Every time you tap into that darkness, you risk losing yourself like you did in Yoshiwara. Even an experienced Yato like Papi can lose to his instincts. Finding a balance isn't something that other Yato like him and Kamui think about, but I've practiced for a long time to be able to let my blood take hold and still fight for what I care about."

"I still don't really understand, but I'm not you. I don't know how to balance that, uh-huh. I have to try to beat Aniki with my own power."

Kagura-san closed her eyes and let a long breath escape her. "…We're the same, but I'm four years older than you. I used to be scared of the Yato part of me. I thought the only way to be myself and protect my loved ones was to get rid of it. But…" Her eyes opened. "I couldn't. Not really. That side of me was always there. And it eventually caught up to me… I was lucky the people I trust were around to pull me back to reality. Since then I've known I had to make peace with the blood I was always denying. That's what's in your future."

Kagura stared at her older self. That was what was going to happen? At some point in the next four years, she was going to snap and lose control once again? At least Kagura-san made it seem like it wouldn't be so bad, but…that outcome terrified her.

Kagura-san continued. "From now on, Kamui's going to come at you with killing intent. He trusts that you're strong enough to stay alive in this fight. You have to trust yourself, too. And trust us." She smiled, stepped over to the silent Yato Kagura, and took the girl's hand.

The Yato's deranged expression softened a fraction. "I'm not just your darkness. I'm the part of you that will do anything to survive," she said.

"You said that this time you're fighting to save Kamui. The baka Aniki who cared about you when you were little. The one you still consider family, no matter what he's done," said Kagura-san. "You can't save him with some half-hearted conviction. You need to give that idiot everything you've got. Fight him the way Yato were born to fight."

"I-I don't know how!" said Kagura, but the two figures in front of her were already fading into the black background. "I'm not experienced at controlling my instincts! And what about the future, uh-huh? I don't know how to keep my blood from taking away my reason!"

"Don't worry," Kagura-san laughed even as she and the Yato faded away. "We're both you! Your instincts are part of your nature, and I have all the battle experience you need. Since you're already borrowing my body, I'll let you borrow that, too. And here's a tip—it doesn't matter if your Yato blood takes away your reason, Kagura…

"All you need is your will."

…

The dust hadn't settled from the force of Kamui's kick when Kagura's eyes snapped open. Kamui felt a surge of excitement (and was that relief as well?) at his sister's apparent recovery. For a second he'd thought he'd gone too far…but never mind. She was clearly alright. The question was whether the kick had been enough to awaken her or not.

She'd landed, slumped, against the edge of the scaffolding, but now she braced herself and climbed back up onto the wooden frame to jump off toward him. As she fell through the air, she turned her body, opened her umbrella, and extended her foot. Kamui recognized her stance easily—it was the same attack he'd used at the beginning of the fight. He dodged the kick with ease, letting Kagura's foot connect with stone instead of flesh and produce a crash that echoed over the mountainside like thunder. A crater had appeared approximately the size of a small meteor's landing site centered around the spot where he'd been standing.

 _She's definitely lost her limiters, then_ , Kamui thought as he stepped back out of the way. Still, it was surprising how much power she'd been able to use. But where was she? He quickly scanned the area as he pulled back. He'd lost sight of her between the falling rocks, and now she was- she was-

- _she was already behind him_ -

Kamui threw an arm up to block her outstretched hand as soon as he felt her presence, but she was too quick, and although he'd moved before she could hit a vital point, the blow came down hard on the juncture of his wrist. He thrust his umbrella back with his other hand, privately assessing the damage to his bones, but she was already out of range. _So fast…and so strong_. Kamui felt his pulse increase with the thrill of facing a capable enemy. Now that she'd awakened…

But wait. Had she awakened? Kagura was leaning against the scaffolding, gently feeling around her injured ribs with an aura of carelessness. Kamui checked for the characteristics of an awakened Yato. She was grinning, yes, and her eyes were sharper and more animalistic than before, but something was wrong. Why wasn't she attacking? A Yato in this state would have no other thoughts than to attack.

Kagura drew her hand to her face and leisurely licked the blood off the side of her arm—not her own blood, but the blood she'd spilled. Her conscious thoughts were chaotic but had not disappeared. She knew what she had to do.

 _Beat him._

 _Save him._

 _Show him I'm strong._

"Let's play, big brother," she said.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Thank you for reading this behemoth of a chapter. Let me know what you thought!_

 _Next time, Chapter 12:_ Sibling Rivalry Is All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye


	13. Rivalry pt i

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 12 pt. i: Sibling Rivalry Is All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Thanks everyone for reading! Also, please know that I LOVE explaining the character motivations—if anything isn't clicking for you, you should leave a review asking about it so I can have an excuse to infodump ;)_

* * *

Kamui's eyes narrowed into slits. A Yato who had lost control of their coherent thought wouldn't be able to speak at all, much less taunt him. He'd assumed she'd been totally awakened, but it looked like he hadn't gone far enough. "Still haven't given in?"

Her steps left cracks in the rocky ground as she sprang toward him. They were both going for speed now, and the air between them hissed with energy from the force of their attacks.

"This wild blood is mine…it knows better than to disobey me." Kagura's words came out in a lazy drawl, but she was far from distracted. Her umbrella swung through the air like a hammer of god to meet Kamui's and he dug his feet into the rock to stop himself going over the edge of the cliff as the shock wave from the strike forced them apart.

Kagura's back hit a beam on the wooden scaffolding, jarring the ribs that had been broken before. She lowered into a crouch on another beam. Kamui shot forward, and Kagura rose to meet him.

"But you're a little different, aren't you? You weren't fighting like this before," Kamui said as they clashed. He could almost feel the miasma of her killing intent sparking against his…and was it his imagination, or had she discarded her little speech tic with the 'uh-huh's?

"I know how to beat you now," Kagura said, blocking a kick with her bare hand by slamming her palm against his leg.

"Really? How are you going to do that?" Kamui asked, swiping his umbrella down into her thigh hard enough to produce a deep gash that bloomed crimson into her dress. It was almost unbelievable that she could stand against him without totally awakening. But actually winning?

Kagura hissed in pain but didn't let her confidence waver. In that dark dream world where she'd encountered her other selves, the older version of her had promised that the battle experience she'd accumulated over the past few years would help, and she was right. It wasn't just her Yato blood making her stronger—the muscle memory of countless battles fought and won was ingrained in her body. It was like she was seeing through Kamui. She could feel the patterns of his movement and predict his next attacks far more clearly than she could before.

"You're so strong you're predictable, Aniki… You switched hands on your umbrella, so your wrist is injured from earlier." A heavy blow to Kamui's umbrella punctuated Kagura's observation, and she could see his tendons stiffen from the strain on his broken wrist.

Kamui's next kick made contact with Kagura's shoulder and she flew back away from the mountainside, landing hard on her back. Kamui stalked forward and moved to stomp on her unguarded torso, but before he could finish his movement the side of Kagura's arm collided with his leg hard enough to bruise bone. Her eyes were taunting him. "And you really enjoy fighting. Every time you get a hit in, you let your guard down a little and give me an opening."

Kamui pulled back into the shadows created by the wooden scaffolding. His little sister… He was actually struggling against her. And the sunlight wasn't helping things. He couldn't remember the last time he'd fought so long against a single opponent, and his stamina was wearing thin under the light of the sun. "Anything else?"

Kagura laughed and sat up. "You're making this too easy." A running jump—barely hindered by the wound in her leg—sent her flying into the space above him. Her umbrella swept through the air, smashing most of the wooden frame—and the carved area of mountain behind it—to bits. "So proud of your Yato blood, but it's a weakness too… You've been avoiding the sun. Are you getting tired, Aniki?"

Kamui returned Kagura's laugh mirthlessly. "You're as much a Yato as I am. You don't belong in the light either."

She landed on one of the broken beams sticking out of the crags and looked out over the rising sun. "A faithful night rabbit like you should stay in the darkness, but I've been struggling, all this time, to show my face in the light of day. As long as the dawn is my battlefield, I won't lose."

Kamui looked up at her, holding a hand up to his eyes to block the rays of light that were intruding into the shadows. She was illuminated by the breaking dawn, pale skin shining, locks of red hair whipped around in the wind like tongues of flame. Her eyes weren't strained and bulging like an awakened Yato's, but they were burning with excitement. Her umbrella was at her side, but she didn't bother to raise it to block the light. Not an Earthling, not a night rabbit, but a new creature, one she'd carved out of the strength of her own willpower…as if such a thing were possible.

For the first time since they'd begun, the possibility occurred to Kamui that Kagura might actually manage to beat him.

The sun on Kagura's face felt warm. It wasn't like she was immune to its effects, but she welcomed them. Right now she had the will of the 15-year-old girl who wouldn't kill, but at the same time she had the blood of the Yato whose home was on the battlefield along with the body of the 19-year-old who had found a balance between her instincts and her heart.

This battle was fun. It wasn't just the feelings of triumph at proving her strength. Kagura's instincts brought her genuine pleasure whenever she could see some minuscule evidence that she'd hurt Kamui. If Kamui fought like this all the time, it was no wonder he was so strong…and so messed up. The bloodlust was pulling on her like hunger—no, it was like letting a wild animal loose from its cage to fight by her side. Sure, it was making her stronger, but Kagura had to concentrate to make sure it didn't try to swallow her up as well.

Even though the sun was making her feel a little weaker, she could tell it was also helping her mind keep up with her instincts. And better yet, the light seemed like it was affecting Kamui more than it was her.

Her blood was strong enough. Her body was strong enough. Her will was strong enough. Even the dawn was on her side. This time Kamui would have to see…he'd have to admit she wasn't a weakling.

This time he wasn't going to leave her behind.

…

Even from the base of the mountain, Sougo could hear the sounds of Kagura and Kamui fighting. Unbelievable. Those two stupid siblings were probably tearing each other apart.

When Kagura had blocked the path upward, Sougo and Sadaharu had instead gone down the mountain in hopes of finding another way up. After all, Sougo wasn't about to let a notorious space criminal like Kamui get away now that he was no longer surrounded by enemies. And besides…

Kagura was soft. Sougo could tell from the events of the past week that the China girl had a weak spot when it came to her brother. If Kamui had done half the things to Sougo that he'd done to Kagura—attempted murder, kidnapping, et cetera—Sougo would be ready to kill the pirate, family bonds be damned. It certainly didn't seem like those bonds mattered much to Kamui beyond his obsession with blood and strength. But Kagura seemed prepared to forgive her older brother. She wanted to save him. If she didn't, she wouldn't have bothered fighting him at all.

Even if she and Kamui were equally strong, Sougo knew she'd be at a disadvantage. Kamui could kill. Kagura wouldn't. If it came to that, Sougo would just have to be there to finish the job in her place. Because even though the thought of voluntarily helping her out left a bad taste in his mouth, Sougo…

…Well, he didn't really know why he was bothering to help her. Maybe he just had a grudge against that pirate commander. It would be good to see a look of defeat instead of a smile on that arrogant face.

Sougo dismounted Sadaharu and crept down a tricky area of cliff low on the mountain. Most of the surrounding view was obscured by trees, but he was near enough the outskirts of the city to be able to hear snippets of conversation from people on the streets below. Maybe there would be another way up where the path branched a little closer to the road under this crag… Sougo motioned for Sadaharu to stay put while he checked—each of the huge dog's heavy footsteps threatened to decimate the unstable rocks on the path.

As Sougo approached the base of the path, he slowed. Waiting on the road below were two uniformed officers, members of the Royal Guard on patrol. One old and one young. Sougo almost yelled out to them, but—

A loud crash echoed down from the top of the mountain where the Yato were fighting, and both guards looked up. "What the hell is that? I've been hearing sounds from up on the cliffs for a while now." The younger guard squinted toward the origin of the sound.

"Is someone up there?" the other guard asked.

"Could be a tourist who wanted to take a picture in front of the Kings' faces, but it's a little early."

 _The Kings' faces…_ Sougo frowned. They had to be referring to the carved faces of past rulers near the top of the mountain, exactly where Kagura and Kamui were.

"Maybe some young folks went up on a dare to cause trouble." The older guard pulled out a pair of binoculars and stared up at the mountain's peak, then gasped. Sougo drew back from the edge of the cliff to stay out of sight, suddenly wary.

"What is it? Did you see someone?" the other guard asked excitedly. He pulled out his own binoculars to look.

"Th-the princess… The princess's carving…"

"Is that a fight? It looks like two people are fighting."

"They're destroying the princess's carving! The mountain is being crushed!" the older guard yelled in obvious distress.

The younger guard cursed as he saw what his partner had witnessed. "What are those two monsters doing? How is that possible?"

Another bang shook the mountain. "That girl just tore Princess Ahon's carving in half with an umbrella! She'll have their heads for this!"

 _Satan's balls_ , Sougo thought. He hadn't even considered the damage their fight would be causing to Oukoku's most famous landmark. Wrecking the historical carvings here was the equivalent of bombing the terminal back in Edo.

The older guard seemed paralyzed by shock, but the younger one pushed him forward. "We have report this! Get the main guard! The way those terrorists are fighting, the two of us won't be able to stop them!" The two rushed off.

 _Oh dear, Kagura's been reduced to the level of a terrorist_. Well, considering the company she kept in the Yorozuya, Sougo had to conclude that it was only a matter of time. In any case, he had another reason to get up there and warn her (and possibly punish her for breaking a national landmark and making his job that much more difficult). This was going to take a lot of smoothing over with the Oukoku government.

Sadaharu stomped over to Sougo, miraculously not dislodging any major rocks as he navigated forward. Now that the guards were out of the way, they were free to make their way down to the split in the path.

Sadaharu crouched down to let Sougo ride on his back on front of the packages and bags. They'd developed a sort of camaraderie since Kagura threw them both off the cliff earlier—it seemed like the dog understood that Sougo was trying to find a way to get to Kagura.

The two of them raced up the other side of the mountain, the side that faced away from the city. This side sloped more gently than the steep rock face they'd climbed before—a massive hill rather than a cliff. Sadaharu's paws pounded over the earth, moving faster than Sougo would have thought possible.

Sougo leaned low to the dog's back. The fur that looked so soft from a distance was unexpectedly thick and rough under his touch, but he appreciated the grip it gave him as Sadaharu sped forward. The hilly geography made it hard to gauge how far up they'd gotten, but after a little while Sougo was sure they were near the top. The wind was harsher here. Sougo kicked Sadaharu lightly in the side to make him go faster—if it worked for horses, maybe it would work on the dog?

Sadaharu growled and reared up, shaking his shoulders to throw Sougo roughly to the grass. Sadism didn't work very well on animals, huh… The thought made Sougo grin. _No wonder China refuses to submit_.

Sougo had a talent for making normal women into masochists to complement him, but China was an exception. She gave as good as she got. Hadn't he said back during the fan club competition that it was more fun to break someone with a lot of pride? Kagura was a challenge like no one else.

Back then, he'd also said girls who're cute when they're young are already at their peak, so they could only deteriorate as they got older. Based on her older appearance now, China seemed to be the exception to that rule as well.

…And she was going to get either murdered by her brother or executed by the Royal Guard if he didn't find her. Sougo got to his feet and brushed the dirt off his jacket. Sadaharu looked unwilling to let him back astride, but that was fine—they'd reached their destination.

The peak of the mountain was formed where the densely-forested slope that Sougo had come up on met the steep cliff carved with the faces of Oukoku's rulers. Sougo and Sadaharu were at the top of the Princess's carving…no, what was left of it. Only the remnants of the wooden scaffolding made it recognizable.

That, and the two Yato fighting on the ledge below.

Sougo's eyes widened as he watched them. There were literal waves of force slamming out every time they clashed. They moved in practiced harmony from the ledge to the air to the cliff face faster than he could blink. Kagura's clothing was bloody and her skin was back and blue, but she was grinning madly. Kamui, on the other hand, had his fair share of injuries, but his usual carefree smile was more focused than usual.

 _Hm? Isn't that backwards?_ The longer Sougo looked, the more it appeared that Kamui, not Kagura, was on the defensive. Sougo wasn't sure how he could tell. Kamui hadn't lost his overwhelming strength, and the strokes from his umbrella were tearing the solid rock of the mountainside apart like it was styrofoam. But he was breathing heavily and there was a sheen of sweat glittering on his forehead.

The sun. Of course. Kamui was trying to draw the fight into the shadows. Kagura, who was obstinately forcing her brother into the open, had clearly noticed as well. As far as Sougo knew, Kagura was no friend of the sunlight—she never ventured out during the day without her parasol. But between the two of them, it made sense that Kamui would have a lower tolerance to the Yato's only weakness.

Sadaharu padded over to Sougo and lay down on the edge overlooking the cliff ledge next to him to watch the fight. The dog made a sound that was almost questioning.

"I can't go down there now," Sougo explained without thinking. "Those two are fighting beyond my level. If I interfered right now, I'd just get in the way. I'll cut in when I see an opportunity." Sadaharu thumped his tail against the ground in response.

Kagura was attacking her brother with killing intent.

Kamui was losing a fight with his little sister.

Sougo was talking to a dog.

…Clearly, the world was ending.

They were close enough to the siblings' battle now to hear not just the crashes and explosions, but their conversation as well. As Kamui's umbrella knocked Kagura out of the sky, his voice rose up to mock her. "I'm impressed you're still standing on that leg."

Kagura's leg… One of the many darker stains on Kagura's red dress was spreading out of a serious wound on her leg. It was such a large injury Sougo was surprised he hadn't noticed it. But no—the way she'd landed on the ground, and the way she'd been fighting—she wasn't favoring the leg at all, fighting recklessly when she should have been keeping weight off it. She jerked out of the way as Kamui's bullets fell around her like rain. "Don't act so high and mighty, Kamui!"

Faster than Sougo's eyes could move, Kagura was in front of Kamui, her supposedly injured leg sweeping down to ram into his neck. Kagura's blue eyes glittered. "You're losing."

Even as he fell back into the ground, Kamui shoved his umbrella at Kagura, but she held firm, gritting her teeth to withstand the bullets. For his part, Kamui was gagging and pawing at the foot crushing his throat into the ground. Sougo felt a little curl of pleasure at the space criminal's expression. His mouth was opening and closing like a fish out of water, and his cocky smile was gone. Kagura pulled the umbrella out of Kamui's hand, twisting his wrist to make him let go. As soon as it was gone, her own umbrella came down on the joint of his shoulder to break it for good. Kamui bared his teeth and snarled. His legs swung up to dislodge Kagura and he got to his feet, still gasping for air between coughs.

They faced each other, both panting, both worse for the wear. Equally so. Kamui brought a hand to his head and it came back wet.

 _Almost over._

They were both reaching the end of their abilities, he could tell. Neither of them were capable of going on much longer. Dragging out the fight as the sun rose over the horizon would hurt him more than it hurt her—he had to try to end this, try to surprise her by using all his power in a battle of speed.

 _One last hit._

She could see it in his eyes, though. Maybe that was the advantage she got from watching him all this time, striving to be as strong as him. She pulled her power into her fist. In perfect unison, so synchronized it was like they choreographed it, Kagura and Kamui punched each other in the face.


	14. Rivalry pt ii

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 12 pt. ii: Sibling Rivalry Is All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Please be aware that_ _ **there is some pretty significant violence**_ _in this chapter. As before, it's by no means worse than some of the stuff in_ Gintama _, but it's more than what's been in this story so far._

 _I'm someone who's not a huge fan of gore/violence and I personally wouldn't feel unduly distressed reading this, but if you're very sensitive to these kinds of things please read at your own discretion. If you fast-forward through the bloody scenes in_ Gintama _, you may want to proceed with caution._

 _Sorry if that was a bit ominous—enjoy!_

* * *

 _They were both reaching the end of their abilities, he could tell. Neither of them were capable of going on much longer. Dragging out the fight as the sun rose over the horizon would hurt him more than it hurt her—he had to try to end this, try to surprise her by using all his power in a battle of speed._

 _One last hit._

 _She could see it in his eyes, though. Maybe that was the advantage she got from watching him all this time, striving to be as strong as him. She pulled her power into her fist. In perfect unison, so synchronized it was like they choreographed it, Kagura and Kamui punched each other in the face._

* * *

For Kagura, the world went white for a second.

The air tasted like metal.

She heard nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing but the white sparks moving across her field of vision.

And then the sparks cleared. And the pain set in.

She'd been lucky. She was still standing. Remaining on her feet after having sustained such a serious attack from Kamui was ridiculous—win-the-lottery-twice kind of luck. Get-struck-by-lighting-and-survive kind of luck. Maybe he'd held back. Maybe he'd unconsciously pulled his last punch.

It sure as hell didn't feel like he'd held back, though. From the swelling and the sticky patch of blood spreading out over her head and the right side of her face, she would guess that he'd given her a fairly severe injury—bad enough that the sounds of the wind and the birds bubbling up into her right ear were disturbingly muffled, as if she had water in her ear canal. Not to mention the taste of fresh copper in her mouth and her head spinning with pain.

It would seem that after putting everything into that last punch, the Yato blood and the battle experience of her older self's body had left her. Blood…blood was dripping down the side of her face and into her eye. Her ears were ringing. The pain of her injuries was stabbing into her. Her legs wobbled. Her ribs ached. She was exhausted and the sun's light was finally getting to her, draining her energy by the second. She was bleeding in more places than she could count, bruised just as badly, and her fractured bones were holding together with little more than willpower.

But she was standing.

And Kamui wasn't.

…

She walked over to him. Now that the adrenaline had left her, it took everything in her power to disguise her limp, but on the off chance he was still conscious she couldn't afford to show weakness. She shouldn't have worried, though—he was out cold.

Kagura squatted down and finally opened her umbrella to protect herself from the sun. Even though he was just as bloody and bruised as she was, he looked a little peaceful like this. Too peaceful. Suspiciously peaceful. Kagura checked his chest to make sure he was breathing. He was—the rhythmic, satisfied breath of deep sleep.

That was genuine calm, then, on his face. He looked like he used to back when they were kids, back before he'd left their family.

A soft smile came to Kagura's lips. "Oh man, I really wanted to rub it in your face that I won," she whispered. "But I guess just knowing is enough, uh-huh."

"Good job apprehending that criminal, China."

Kagura looked up at the remains of the wooden scaffolding, surprised to see Sougo climbing down from the top of the cliff. "For once in your life you've contributed to society," Sougo continued.

Kagura hissed at him. "I don't want to hear that from you, tax thief."

"I guess you're right," Sougo said, surveying the damage to the carvings in the mountain. "You might've caught a criminal, but you also destroyed an important monument."

"Hah? What're you talking about, sadist? We just threw some rocks around. I guess an Earthling can't understand the scope of a Yato's battle." Kagura flipped her hair proudly. "A little destruction is inevitable, uh-huh."

Well, Sougo couldn't deny that he'd been impressed earlier—but the effect was ruined as soon as she opened her mouth. "This is a historical site protected by the royal family you and your brother just destroyed. You really have a talent for desecrating government sites, don't you? The Royal Guard is on its way up here to cut your head off."

Kagura blinked, then stood up. "So what? Why'd you come back, uh-huh? Where's your popcorn?"

"An unjust execution at the hands of a hostile government right after you defeat your greatest enemy? You don't deserve a noble death like that. We're going…before you get me into any more trouble." He tugged on her wrist and she stumbled forward.

Her strength was drained after that fight. She didn't have the energy to fight with Sougo right now, and she definitely didn't want to tangle with any kind of Royal Guard. The stupid sadist was picking at her nerves, but he was right—it was probably a good idea to leave now. Only… Kagura looked down at Kamui's sleeping face, knelt, and picked up his discarded umbrella.

The sun would be overhead soon. She opened the umbrella and lay it on its side so it cast a shadow on Kamui's face.

Sougo noticed the action and tensed. It was a pretty meager consideration, but after what those two had gone through it seemed overly tender. "Leave the pirate. The guard will be able to handle him as long as he's unconscious. We can pick him up later."

He pulled on Kagura's wrist again, urging her toward the remains of the wooden frame that they could climb up to get to Sadaharu. Kagura followed reluctantly. She felt bad about just leaving Kamui to the mercy of Oukoku's government, but he would be okay. Hopefully he'd be out long enough that he wouldn't cause more trouble…

 _Wait._

Kagura's blood froze in her veins.

She halted in her tracks. Her sixth sense (the one that never seemed to work right) was, for once, flaring to life. No, not just that—every sense in her body was screaming _danger_.

Behind her, Kamui sat up.

Rubbed his eyes.

Spoke.

"Kagura, here's a lesson from your big brother. If you leave your enemies alive after you beat them, be prepared to have to beat them again."

Kamui knew what he'd done wrong last time. The reason he hadn't been able to truly awaken her—the reason she'd been able to retain control—was because he'd tried to do it by threatening _her_ life. But the last time Kagura lost to the beast, it wasn't because her life had been in danger. She'd snapped to save that Earthling friend of hers. Kagura's instincts were awakened when she had to protect someone she cared about.

The solution was simple. If Kamui wanted to see that side of Kagura, all he had to do was kill the human.

The police captain's guard was down. One strike would be enough.

Kamui lunged toward Sougo.

" _Kamui!_ "

 _No. No._ It was too sudden. She was too tired to draw upon her older self's battle experience or use her Yato blood. Kamui was already moving toward Sougo. She couldn't stop him. And Sougo had barely even turned around to react to Kamui's comment. There was no way he'd be able to dodge in time.

What should she do? What _could_ she do? She could…she could…she could give in. Let the blood have full control over her body and lose herself to it. That was the only way she'd be able to mount another attack against Kamui while so badly injured and exhausted.

But Kamui was hurt too. And if Kagura lost to that blood now, she might kill him.

Kamui was seconds— _milliseconds_ —away from delivering a death blow to the Earth policeman when Kagura's body shoved its way into her path. Her torso slammed against him, then slumped forward when he stopped. Her face fell onto his shoulder. Suddenly, shockingly, he remembered their fight on the cliffs at Rakuyou; how they'd both chosen to fall into an embrace rather than continue fighting. The warmth of her body was unfamiliar but at the same time, reassuring… Had she awakened, or was she trying to stop him from fighting any longer? From this angle, he couldn't see her face—

Kagura's chest convulsed and she retched blood onto Kamui's shoulder.

He went still.

His arm—the one he'd been attacking with—was warm. Hot.

Sougo stared. Kamui had attacked with no warning, and for some reason Kagura had moved _toward_ him. _Why?_ And now Kamui's arm was impaled, elbow deep, in the side of her stomach. The sight of the dripping red hand sticking out of Kagura's back pulled Sougo's vision with a force like gravity.

With some difficulty, Kamui wrenched his arm out of Kagura's body. Her knees had already given out, and she fell back as soon as her brother pulled away.

"Kagura!" Sougo hissed, and he knelt to catch her before her back hit the ground. Her name felt like a curse in his mouth. That injury…was she even alive? No human could have survived something like that, but maybe a Yato…

Sougo knelt and supported Kagura's head. Her eyes were fluttering open and closed, and there was a look of faint surprise on her face. Her nose and mouth were smeared with fresh blood. She was still holding her umbrella—in fact, she was gripping it so tightly her knuckles were white. She was trying to say something, or scream maybe, but Sougo couldn't tell what.

"Kagura…" Kamui's voice sounded confused.

A wave of pure, wild hatred rose up in Sougo as he remembered the enemy before him. Kagura might or might not survive the next five minutes, but either way Kamui was still a threat. Sougo pulled out his rocket launcher and balanced it on his shoulder awkwardly, doing his best not to jostle Kagura's body. There was _so much blood_. He could feel it soaking through her clothes and his to spread a sick, sticky heat over his skin. "You. Your own sister."

Kamui ignored him. Or rather, it was like he hadn't heard the other man's words. He just stood still, watching the blood pool under Kagura.

" _Say something!_ " Sougo fired the rocket launcher at Kamui, but the Yato apparently had enough presence of mind to bat the projectile out of the way with his umbrella. The next rockets that flew his way were dodged with ease, and they instead exploded into the pile of rocks that blocked the path down the front of the mountain.

And then, as if the situation wasn't bad enough, Sougo heard voices—indistinct at first, but then growing in volume until he could make them out.

"—just exploded all of a sudden—"

"—shot at us with a _rocket launcher_ —"

"—enemies of the monarchy, terrorists—"

Men clad in neat green uniforms clambered over the rocks and swarmed onto the ledge like ants.

The Royal Guard had found them.

"Intruders! You are under arrest for the desecration of a sacred monument!" one yelled, pointing a glinting spear at the three of them. Sougo had been right to want to get out before they came, but it was too late now. He'd have to try to explain the situation to the authorities.

"Attempt to resist arrest, and you will be executed for treason against Oukoku, and against the tenth Regent, Princess Aho—" The announcement became an incoherent yell as Kamui kicked the guard—and a half-dozen others—off the mountain. The next members of the guard to approach were killed just as easily.

"Attack! The enemies are hostile!" The Royal Guard rushed forward as one, weapons raised—not just toward Kamui, but at Kagura and Sougo as well. Sougo stood quickly and picked Kagura up bridal-style. It didn't appear that the Guard would be willing to listen to explanations judging by the dozens of swords and spears aimed their way. And Sougo couldn't fight either, not while protecting Kagura. But if he ran now…he'd be branded a traitor.

Kagura's eyes were glazed. Her body was completely limp. Sougo knew a mortal wound when he saw it, and he knew what a person looked like while the life faded from their eyes.

Kagura was dying.

Literally dying in his arms.

He didn't have a choice. They had to get out of danger, even if it meant being labeled a terrorist. Sougo arranged her body to drape over his shoulder as carefully as possible, then fell back to the last remnants of the scaffolding to climb up to where Sadaharu was waiting. It wasn't easy to climb one-armed, but the Kamui's mass-murder spree was keeping most of the guards' attention.

When they reached the top of the cliff, Sougo positioned Kagura on Sadaharu's back to prepare to run. From the sounds below, Kamui was still fighting, but Sougo leaned over the edge to check and be sure the pirate wouldn't follow.

A mistake.

"The other two are escaping! After them!" Some of the guards broke off the group fighting Kamui (read: being slaughtered by Kamui) to rush toward the scaffolding in pursuit. A few others trained their bows at the group above. Among them was a familiar face—Juurou—and Sougo watched the guard's eyes widen as he recognized them.

There went their chances of getting out of this battle (relatively) unnoticed. May as well finish the job. Sougo fired his rocket launcher at the last bits of wooden staging against the cliff wall where the guard were trying to climb up. His main aim was to destroy the beams fully and make it impossible for them to reach him and Kagura, but if some of the guards were injured in the process, Sougo could always blame it on Kamui.

Satisfied at having cut off the guards' ability to follow them, Sougo climbed onto Sadaharu behind Kagura and propped her back against his chest so he could brace her as Sadaharu ran into the woods. In this position he could physically feel her breath enter and leave her body, shallow, unsteady. Labored.

Sougo pulled Kagura to a more secure position and tried not to think about the fact that her eyes had closed.

* * *

 _Class 3-Z: Ginpachi-sensei!_

Kagura raised her hand. "Hey, hey, Ginpachi-sensei!"

"I told you when you asked ten minutes ago, Kagura, but lunch isn't until noon. There's still two hours," said Ginpachi-sensei.

"Seriously?! This is child abuse, uh-huh. I can't wait that long," Kagura said as she pulled out an entire rice cooker and began to eat. Ginpachi-sensei didn't bother telling her off.

The sensei turned back to the board to continue lecturing. After all, effects of continual parfait consumption on the human body was an important topic for these youngsters to learn. However, the students didn't seem to agree. Insolent brats.

Sougo raised his hand.

Ginpachi-sensei pretended not to see it.

"Oi, Danna, you ignoring me?"

A vein appeared on the sensei's forehead. "Call me sensei, Souichirou-kun! Sensei!"

Taking this as permission to speak, Sougo continued. "About today's chapter…isn't the content a little too dark to fit Gintama's tone? The ending was too sudden. Is the author trying to hold on to her readers with a cliffhanger, or did she just get lazy?"

Kagura paused shoveling rice into her mouth. "Yeah! Tell me if I'm gonna live, uh-huh! And where did my stupid brother go after me and the sadist left?"

Ginpachi-sensei frowned. "I can't spoil your future, Kagura, but I can tell you about what happened with Kamui-kun. He was fighting with the Royal Guard on the cliff ledge, but when he realized Kagura and Sougo were gone, he thought ' _these small fries are too weak to bother with_ ' and jumped down the mountain. Since he's Kamui, he was able to escape into the forest to look for his ship easily."

"But where did he go after that, Danna? I want to go hunt him down while his arm's still broken," said Sougo, shifting into do-S mode.

"Tell us, Ginpachi-sensei!" Kagura whined. "I don't wanna wait for the next chapter to see Kamui's reaction to accidentally almost killing me, uh-huh!"

Ginpachi-sensei tapped a finger against his chin. "Hmm…"

…

" _Darling, what's that man doing? Is that…blood on his clothes?" a young woman asked her lover as they took an early-morning walk down a deserted street._

 _The man put a hand around his girlfriend's shoulders and pulled her closer, giving the strange person attempting to climb into a vending machine a wide berth. "Don't get too close, honey."_

 _Kamui's knees dug into the dirt road. His umbrella lay by his side, half forgotten. He knew he was injured badly from his fight with Kagura—especially on the arm she'd broken in two places, he should really set that—but he barely felt the pain. All he could feel was the ring of warmth on his other arm, where he'd impaled it in Kagura's body. Not even the rapid healing skills of a Yato could survive an injury like that for long. She might already be dead._

" _Ch-ch-ch-chill out… Just need to find a t-t-time-time machine—" Oblivious to the odd stares he was receiving, Kamui shoved his head deeper into the mouth of the vending—_

…

A pale hand slammed Ginpachi-sensei's head into his desk, leaving a hole in the sturdy wood. Kamui smiled. "I'll kill ya."

Ginpachi-sensei pulled his head off the floor and looked at his attacker through the film of blood covering his head. "Is that you, Kamui-kun? Shouldn't you be at your school? Youngsters shouldn't skip class, you know."

"And teachers shouldn't lie to children," Kamui said, a pleasant smile still gracing his face. "Kagura, you should come and transfer to Yato Technical School already."

"No way! You and the baldy can go rot and die at that concentration camp, uh-huh. And tell me what really happened after you got away from the Royal Guard!"

"Don't ask me," said Kamui, flicking Kagura's forehead. "Ask the author."

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Was that a bit much? I thought I would try and lighten the tone a bit, haha. That was kind of a rough chapter._

 _Speaking of which, I have some cool news for you Okikagu fans out there! I've gotten a few reviews requesting more Okikagu content, and while I totally sympathize (like seriously, I really, really want to put more in), it's a difficult time to have romantic stuff going on considering…well…everything else. Rest assured that there will be more "romantic" content in this fic in the future, BUT I'm also excited to announce that I'm going to be posting a series of Okikagu drabbles that I wrote as a creative exercise while I was writing_ KWBK _!_

 _The story is called_ Heads or Tails _, and it's already been posted! It's all Okikagu, a mixture of canon-based and AU settings, and readers will have the option to suggest prompts by leaving reviews ;)_ _ **If you're an Okikagu fan, make sure to check out**_ **Heads or Tails** _ **on my profile!**_

 _Lastly, thank you as always for reading, and I am very much looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter. Feel free to rant, I probably deserve it… However, make sure you don't write off Kagura just yet. She's a survivor._

 _Next time, Chapter 13:_ Don't Leave Your Most Meaningful Revelations for Your Deathbed


	15. Revelations

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 13: Don't Leave Your Most Meaningful Revelations for Your Deathbed

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: You know when you have a fanfic idea, and it starts as just a series of scene 'seeds' that pop into you're head while you're reading the canon content and you're like, "Huh, that would be really, really fun to write about. I should make a story about that." After a while those half-formed little ideas flesh out and link together into a somewhat coherent plot line, and then you've got yourself a full-grown fanfic?_

 _The little scene seeds that became_ KWBK _—they're in this chapter. Not all of them, but enough to make it one of my absolute favorite chapters of anything that I've ever written._

 _I don't want to hype it up too much because it's probably nothing like what you're expecting, but if you're into Yato sibling angst (and you probably are if you're still reading), this thing is a freakin' tour de force, if I do say so myself._

 _I also have to apologize—this chapter is_ extremely _long (current word count is OVER NINE THOUSAND) and unfortunately because of the way it's been written it's really hard to split up. Also, back when I was doing the rough draft I wrote this 30-page monster_ in a single day _, so that should tell you how excited I was to_ finally _get these scenes on paper._

 _Please enjoy!_

* * *

For the first time in a very long time—for the first time ever, maybe—Kamui was bothered by the blood on his hands. He'd been trekking through the forest in search of his escape ship long enough that it was dry, but somehow he could still feel the warmth of fresh blood, wet and slick, over his skin. It felt hot—no, it felt like burning acid. Was there a stream around here? He needed to wash the blood off, needed to _get it off_ —

Kamui paused in his footsteps. _That's enough_. He hadn't done anything wrong—or rather, he hadn't done anything worth regretting. He hadn't wanted to kill her in that fight, but he'd been prepared to. Admittedly, it had been a mistake to get tangled up in Kagura's business, to try to force her into the role of a true Yato to see how strong she could really be, but only because it was a waste of time. There was no need to ruminate on that mistake. That was how he lived, wasn't it? There was only the next battlefield to dominate, the next enemy to defeat. With the injury he'd inflicted, Kagura might live, or (more likely) she might die, but she had known that going into the fight. He wasn't the type to feel guilty over an opponent he'd killed.

He wasn't the type to think about the fact that when he'd first regained consciousness after she beat him, his umbrella was lying open over his face. She must have put it there while he was asleep to give him shade.

He wasn't the type to remember her face when he pulled his arm out of her stomach. Nothing more or less than surprise—not betrayal, not pain, not indignation, just mild surprise. Her mouth seesawing open and closed. Blood forcing its way up through her throat to smear over her lips.

He wasn't the type to be transfixed by the image of the hole in her side. The red of her dress had looked dull next to the dark, vivid crimson of her blood. And through the other side, daylight. Surreal. Like a child's paper doll with a hole punched in it. Like it wasn't Kagura. Like it wasn't his sister. Like it wasn't his fault.

She'd known what she was getting into. What a pathetic weakling, that she'd thought she could 'save' him. Maybe this last injury would be enough to teach her once and for all how beyond saving he was.

Kamui stopped walking and leaned against a tree as nausea rolled over him. _The squelching sound when he struggled to pull his arm out of her stomach._ Before he knew what was happening, he was on his knees wiping vomit from his mouth.

How long had it been since the last time he'd actually been sick like this? It was an incredibly unpleasant sensation. His eyes were watering. He spat to clear his tongue of the sour taste. _That girl's supposed to be the one with a weak gag reflex…_ When they were kids, Kagura had always been vomiting for some reason or another. Seems like the habit hadn't left her over the years. The smell of stomach bile mixed with blood from where she'd gagged on his shoulder brought another wave of illness to Kamui's body. If his stomach hadn't just voided its contents, he'd probably throw up again.

He kicked some dirt over the mess and continued on, though by now his walk had slowed to a limp. His left arm was shattered at the wrist and near the shoulder, and he had an assortment of broken ribs and various other fractured bones. Kagura had really done a number on him, hadn't she? Whatever her emotional weaknesses, she'd given him an unbelievable fight.

And in return, he'd killed her.

Maybe.

It was odd for him to dwell on it like this. Kamui had chosen a long time ago to seek nothing but strength, to discard anyone who got in his way and keep only those who could further his goals. Over the past ten or so years since he left home, he'd never strayed from the path in front of him, never been distracted by 'bonds'—

But no, that wasn't true, was it? He'd been distracted from his path before. And every time, _every time_ , it was Kagura's fault.

* * *

 _10 years ago_

Kamui was a child, and he was leaving Rakuyou. Leaving his family, if they could even be called that anymore. What a ridiculous soap opera the four of them had become. The husband stole his wife away from her home. The mother was dying for the sake of her family. The son tried to kidnap his mother and tore an arm off his father. The father tried to kill his son. The daughter saved her father and her brother. And now the son had run away to join his father's greatest enemy, leaving his dying mother and helpless sister behind.

He was going to become so strong that not even Umibouzu would be able to beat him.

The food on the pirate ship wasn't good, but there was more of it than at home. And there was more variety. Kamui couldn't remember the last time he ate anything other than furikake on rice. Here, there was fish—real fish—and even though it was dry and too salty, Kamui piled his plate high with it until the kitchens refused to give him any more. He sat in the mess hall to eat, conscious of the stares he received from the other men.

"Who's the shrimp?"

"Who let a kid onboard?"

"Is that really Umibouzu's brat? Doesn't look like much." This comment was accompanied by a series of jeers. Kamui bit his lip to keep from lashing out at the man who'd spoken. He was outstandingly strong for his age, but 'strong for his age' didn't matter much to the other Yato.

"You sure they're related? Look at that pink hair," another laughed.

 _It's not pink, it's orange. Or red. Or vermillion_ , Kamui wanted to say, but he held his tongue.

"Oh yeah. Kid must've got his looks from his mother. Heard she was a real babe, but by now she's damaged goods—" Kamui leapt out of his chair with a snarl to attack the pirate who'd spoken, disparity in strength be damned, but another man beat him to it.

Abuto's foot slammed into the pirate's back, knocking him into his bowl face-first. "Oh, sorry. Didn't see you there. Were you saying something?"

Kamui watched with a frown as the man who'd 'kidnapped' him walked over and sat down in the seat next to his. After a beat, he returned to his chair and resumed eating when the older man didn't appear to want to start a conversation.

All too soon, the food on his plate had disappeared and he couldn't help sighing. It was better than what he usually got at home, but he was still hungry.

Abuto chuckled and slid over a bowl of his own rice. He'd been watching the brat, and the only time his air of seriousness lifted was when he was eating. Kid ate like he didn't know where his next meal was coming from.

Kamui glared at the offered rice. "I don't need any favors."

"Just eat, you damn brat. Any kid who can eat these shitty rations as fast as you just did deserves them more than I do."

Kamui didn't need to be told a second time, and he dived in.

Abuto watched the boy eat with a lazy expression. "So is this place making you homesick yet?"

Kamui shook his head, not pausing in his meal.

"Mmm… What about that little sister of yours?"

Kamui put down his chopsticks and his eyes narrowed. "I told her I have no use for weaklings."

 _Touchy subject, huh?_ Abuto thought. "Oh, come on. Didn't you say before that she stopped your father when you two were fighting? Stopping the Umibouzu in his tracks without throwing a punch, that's something, isn't it?" A low huff of laughter escaped the pirate. "Actually, you know what— that little girl's done something not even Hosen himself was capable of."

Kamui stood up abruptly and cleared his table. Abuto had brought up something he didn't want to think about. Kamui had to be strong. And to become strong, he had to leave his family. Because family made you weak, right? The bonds of family were the reason his mother was dying.

But somehow, Kagura, the weakest of all of them, had managed to save his life. She'd stopped the fight between father and son not with her fists, but with love. The bonds that were supposed to be his weakness had become her strength.

No. No. That was wrong. That wasn't the kind of strength Kamui needed. He'd resolved to get rid of his family. No more having to watch his mother waste away in front of him. No more hating his useless father for always being gone. No more worrying about his weak little sister.

No more brushing Kagura's hair for her in the mornings, making sure it was neat and tidy in her favorite twin buns (because even though he could teach her to do it herself, he didn't really mind. At bedtime, he prided himself on being able to calm her down and get her dozing off just by brushing through her soft hair).

No more fighting with her over the last piece of meat in the rare hotpot (although he knew he'd just let her have it eventually. Anyway, watching her savor the special treat happily was even better than eating it himself).

No more waking up to the sounds of Kagura crying and letting her crawl into his futon for comfort (because they had both heard their mother coughing and it sounded bad. Kagura was scared but so was he and he relied on her presence more than he wanted to admit).

She needed him. But Kamui…

…didn't need weaklings.

* * *

 _7 years ago_

Kamui was a little older, and his mother was going to die soon. It had been a few years since he left to join the seventh division, and he knew that when the ship stopped in Rakuyou this time, it would be his last chance to see her face. To say goodbye.

He'd brought her a Yǔxīng flower in a slim vase, and she took it from him with a smile. She looked so tired, but when she lifted the flower to her face to smell its fragrance, her eyes shone like precious stones. The smile on her face was pure starlight.

Kamui's chest ached like it hadn't in years.

Kouka ran a slim finger down the edge of one of the flower's petals. "Thank you, Kamui. …But I've always wondered, why these? You always bring the same type of flower. This doesn't grow around here, does it?" There was a slight rasp in her voice that Kamui could tell she was trying very hard not to let him notice.

"It's your favorite, a Yǔxīng. A rain star," he said, taking the vase from her and placing it by a window.

A soft laugh escaped Kouka. "Is it? …I think this may be _your_ favorite, Kamui… I first saw this type of flower when you brought it to show me, when you were a child…"

"Ah…" Kamui scratched his head sheepishly.

Kouka chuckled gently again. "…But I think it's become my favorite, since you always bring it with you when you visit." She reached out for Kamui's hand, and he let her lace her fingers with his. "You've grown, haven't you?… I hope you're getting enough to eat…"

Kamui nodded. "More than enough." _You should be worrying about yourself_ , he thought. His mother looked too thin, too frail. A shadow of the woman she'd once been, before her children were born. But what good would it do to tell her? They both already knew that some things were inevitable.

Kouka sighed in relief. "That's good news… Kagura is always hungry…she says her stomach and her back are going to merge together…"

 _Kagura…_ "She hasn't changed, then."

Kouka couldn't help feeling a little surprised—and a little pleased. Usually when Kamui visited he made an effort not to respond to mentions of Kagura or Kanko, but perhaps this time he would be willing to talk about them. "Kagura has grown up a little since you last saw her, Kamui… You only visit when she's out of the house, so you might be surprised…"

Kamui looked away, out the window to the hills beyond. He didn't want to entertain this topic. Although his mother seemed to quietly accept his leaving home to become a pirate, he couldn't really explain to her that when he'd done so, he'd also vowed to cut ties with Kagura and Umibouzu.

"You know, Kagura knows you stop by to visit me. This Yǔxīng is probably her least favorite flower, because it means you've gone away and left again…" Seeing the look on Kamui's face, Kouka reached out and patted her son's cheek. "Such a serious face… Kagura gave me a message for you, in case you visited…"

"What did she say?" Kamui asked, if only to indulge his mother.

Kouka's eyes crinkled up. "She said, 'Tell my baka Aniki that I don't care where he goes or what he does…'"

 _Typical Kagura_. Kamui had never sought or expected her forgiveness for leaving.

"'…as long as he's smiling, uh-huh.' That's it."

The young pirate blinked and looked back at his mother in surprise. "She said that?"

"Like I said, Kagura has gotten a little bit more mature… Of course she wants to see you, but she wants you to be happy as well. Tell me, Kamui, are you happy?"

Kamui wasn't sure how to answer. He hadn't left home looking for happiness. He was strong, and getting stronger every day. That was what was important. But happiness?

Did Kagura think he left their family—left _her_ —because he wasn't happy?

' _As long as he's smiling_ ,' she'd said. Kamui didn't smile much. In truth, he didn't think about it at all. His life didn't provide many opportunities to smile. But…

Kouka was looking at her son expectantly, awaiting an answer, when his face blossomed into a youthful smile. _Oh my…_ How nice. When he smiled, Kamui truly looked like the healthy, kind son she remembered him to be.

Kamui squeezed his mother's hand. "From now on, I will always remember to smile."

* * *

 _4 years ago_

Kamui was a teenager, and he had no reason left to visit the place he had once called home. No personal reason, but apparently the ship ( _his_ ship, he reminded himself, it had been _his_ since his recent promotion to the position of 7th Division Commander) needed maintenance that it could only find in Rakuyou. The seedy planet was a magnet for pirate dealings and the 7th division tended to stop there every so often for repairs and trading, but since his mother's death Kamui had been avoiding the area where he and his family used to live. This time, though, the needed repairs were extensive enough that he wouldn't be able to stay aboard the ship while the other Yato took leave to visit friends and family (or more commonly, bars and brothels).

"Just go home," Abuto had said before he left to go drinking with some old friends. "Don't know if your old man will be happy to see you after what you did to his arm, but your sister might."

Well, Kamui wasn't in the mood for a family reunion—unless it involved bloodshed. He had no desire to reunite with Kagura, but perhaps it would be worth his effort to go home and seek out Umibouzu. There was a very good chance that by now, Kamui had gotten strong enough to kill his father, especially since the old man was missing an arm. Most opponents—even Abuto—couldn't come close to beating the young commander. This could be an opportunity to fight the legendary alien buster and get his revenge. Beating Umibouzu would be as good as declaring supremacy over the Yato.

The thought of it brought a wide grin to Kamui's lips. Smiling almost constantly had started out as a habit, but over the years it had become second nature. Though none of his men were quite sure where the tendency had come from, it had practically become a legend well-known throughout the Harusame and beyond: _If you're fighting the 7_ _th_ _division, don't look out for the biggest, or the oldest, or the ugliest. Look out for a smile. If you see your enemy smiling, don't even bother trying to run—just pray to whatever god you believe in for a quick death_.

They'd be shocked to learn the 7th Division Commander's signature expression came about because of something his little sister had said.

One of Kamui's eyebrows quirked up. He'd almost forgotten about that. Perhaps the familiar surroundings had brought up the memory. He'd reached their old house.

Wow, he'd forgotten how rundown the place was. One of the windows was broken and had been covered with tape and cardboard, and the ever-present rain of Rakuyou had already worn a wet hole in the rotting paper. Kamui paused in front of the front door to close his umbrella and shake off the excess rain. "I'm home," he said with a wry laugh, preparing to shove the door open by force.

Oddly, though, it swung open easily. More easily than Kamui had expected. This wasn't the kind of town where people left their front doors unlocked. Was that sister of his so careless? Kamui stepped inside, prepared for Umibouzu to be waiting for him ( _wouldn't that be convenient_ ), but the room was empty. Still, he could tell there was something wrong. The air was still and heavy, and there was a thick layer of dust over the framed pictures on the shelf next to what was once Kouka's bed.

Kamui picked one up and wiped off the grime. It was his mother and Umibouzu, before Kamui was born (judging by the abundance of Umibouzu's hair). Kouka looked healthier than Kamui had ever seen her. His eyes lingered on the image of her peaceful smile before he put the frame down.

The next photo was of Kagura. She'd be…how old, now? But in this picture, she couldn't be more than 5 or so, because she looked the same as when he last saw her. She was smiling broadly at something mid-meal, her chopsticks halfway to her mouth and a piece of rice stuck to her cheek. Without thinking, Kamui snapped open the back of the frame and took the photo out to put it in his pocket.

The next picture on the shelf was familiar—it was a family photo that had been taken long before Kamui left. Kamui's mother was sitting in an chair with Umibouzu standing behind her and a very young Kagura in her arms. The photo showed Kamui's body standing next to the chair, but at some point someone had drawn over his face with a mustache, devil horns, and swirly glasses.

Kamui looked over the rest of the framed pictures. In every photo he appeared in, his face had been either defaced in some way with childish graffiti, drawn over with a henohenomoheji, blacked out, or cut from the picture. Probably a concerted effort by the baldy and Kagura. Those two…

Well, he'd wasted enough time here. It looked like Umibouzu was probably on a hunt off-planet, so Kamui would have to wait for another opportunity to challenge him. Stopping here had been a waste of time, but before he left, he should find out where their mother's grave was. He hadn't brought flowers this time, but he should at least pay his respects to the only member of his family who he hadn't chosen to break ties with.

He hadn't gone to her funeral, so he didn't know where she'd been buried. That meant he had to ask Kagura. Hopefully she wouldn't make a fuss over seeing him for the first time in so many years… Where was she, though? Out at the market or something? By this age, she'd be able to do most of the chores around the house for herself—cooking, cleaning…

Cleaning…but the house was covered in dust.

Suddenly the air felt cold, much colder than it had before. Kamui walked around to inspect the scene. The rainwater leaking in through the cardboard-covered window he'd noticed from outside was collecting in a puddle—no, a pool—on the floor. The furniture looked like it hadn't been used in weeks. In the kitchen, what little food was left in the pantry was spoiled or rotting. He tried a light switch—no luck. The electricity was off.

Why did this house look like it had been abandoned? Why, when Kagura was supposed to be living here? It wasn't as if they'd moved away—all of their possessions (aside from the things Umibouzu took with him when he left for his job) were still in the house. In Kagura's bedroom everything seemed to be in place, but the stale atmosphere and thick dust said otherwise. Maybe Umibouzu had deemed her old enough to accompany him on a hunt…but he wouldn't have left food rotting in the kitchen.

Kagura wasn't with Umibouzu. And she wasn't here. At some point, the girl had left this house and never returned.

Kamui barely noticed his breathing getting more hurried as he searched—for what, he wasn't sure. He'd left Kagura behind because she was too weak to follow his path, but Rakuyou was an unsafe planet. What could that weakling do to protect herself here? Kamui was a commander in the Harusame. He knew exactly what kind of business went down in this very village. Kidnapping, home invasion—but that was thinking small. What about human trafficking? He'd brokered some of those deals himself. Kagura was a young Yato girl—a rarity. And her pale skin, her blue eyes, her pinkish hair—Kamui knew plenty of monsters in this galaxy alone who would pay a lot for a girl like that.

He sat down on Kagura's unrolled futon and wished Umibouzu was there. Kamui wanted badly— _so badly_ —to wrap his fingers around his father's throat and squeeze, squeeze the life out of the bastard, squeeze until he could physically feel the breath leave the man's body. "Where were you!?" he'd ask. "Did you just assume she'd be safe? Has she been alone all this time?"

 _Has she been alone all this time?_

Kamui never thought about Kagura. He never had to. Because she was here, on Rakuyou. Out of his reach. Out of his way.

The bedspread crinkled under him. A paper? Kamui drew it out from the covers.

 _To Papi:_

 _I'm running away from home. Don't come looking for me because I'm going to a different planet to marry rich, make a lot of money, and eat egg over rice every day. You're gone most of the time so I don't think you'll be mad. Don't worry about me ending up like that baka Aniki, I still love you but I hate this place and I hate being the one who stays behind while everyone else leaves. Also I'm sick of eating furikake on rice. The old neighbor lady brought over some other stuff but everything she cooks tastes like dog food._

 _From: Kagura_

Kamui turned the note over to see if there was writing on the back. There wasn't.

'Running away from home'? 'To a different planet'? 'Marry rich'? What was she thinking!? That brat could barely take care of herself here on Rakuyou, much less on some unknown planet where she didn't even have a house (albeit a ramshackle one) over her head and a father (albeit an absent one) to support her.

…Not that Kamui cared. But it was a lot harder to not care when he was actually faced with the situation she'd been put in.

The undisturbed dust, the undiscovered note—clearly, Umibouzu hadn't been home in weeks, if not longer. Was it normal for him to leave his daughter alone for such long periods of time?

Kagura…must have been lonely.

It wasn't as if Kamui missed her. She was part of a past he'd put behind him a long time ago. It was just simpler when his past stayed in the past.

He pulled out the photo he'd taken from the frame. That idiotic smile, half mischievous and half pleased… Did she still smile like that? Kamui's fingers caught the edge of the photo and found something unexpected—part of the picture had been folded over. He unfolded it to see the portion that had been hidden.

It was him.

9 years old, maybe, and he was reaching out to Kagura with a towel to brush the rice off her face. In the photo he was wearing a gentle expression, exasperated but caring. He was the one Kagura had been beaming at. This was the only picture of him in this house to remain unscathed. The crease of the fold was white with age, as if someone had folded and unfolded the picture many times. It must have been her. Who else would be so sentimental? After all this time, she still hadn't let go?

Kamui didn't know what to feel about that.

And when it occurred to him that Kagura hadn't bothered to take the photo with her when she ran away from home, he didn't know what to feel about that, either.

* * *

 _A year ago_

Kamui was 18, and yet again, his past was having trouble staying in the past.

Some of the men had put a TV in the break room (despite the fact that they were so far out in the isolation of deep space that every program they picked up had aired months ago), and Abuto had left it on while he filled out reports on his commander's behalf. Kamui sat in a chair picking his teeth, unapologetic. He'd do the paperwork himself, but the Admiral of the Harusame always complained about the poor quality of the reports when he wrote them.

Plus, paperwork was boring.

There was some kind of seed stuck between two teeth… Kamui wiggled the toothpick to try to dislodge it. Abuto forged another signature and added the finished form to the stack on his right, a stack that was unfortunately dwarfed by the pile of paperwork yet to be started. The man sighed and rolled his eyes toward his commander. "You could at least take care of some of this," he said.

"But you have so much more experience," Kamui smiled.

Unsure whether that was meant to be a compliment or a dig at his age, the older man just reached for the next memo in defeat. As he read it over, though, his exasperation turned to interest. It was a report updating them on the actions that had occurred a week or so ago on Earth. Some small-time faction of the Harusame had agreed to partner with an Earthling group—the Kiheitai—as they attempted to mass-produce a powerful weapon called 'Benizakura'. One of the members of the Kiheitai, a Takechi Henpeita, had written this memo describing the events that had prevented them from reaching their goal as well as the enemies who had thwarted their plan. Not particularly interesting as matters the Harusame dealt with went, but one detail included in the report jumped out at Abuto.

Among those who fought against the Kiheitai and the Harusame was a young girl. A Yato girl, Takechi had deduced from her fighting style, her umbrella, her rapid healing ability, and—

Abuto raised an eyebrow as he read further.

— _her pure, flawless skin, white as the driven snow, untouched by the filthy hands of men. Her hair shines with the glow of a sunset's blush, and though her eyes are the shade of the ocean's depths, they hold a bright, teasing sparkle. Her figure is slight and fragile in appearance, an innocent flower on the cusp of blossoming, but those delicate curves hide a deceptive strength. I would estimate her age to be around 14 years old, just shy of a woman's peak (I'm not a lolicon, I'm a feminist)._

Bizarrely appreciative comments on the girl's appearance aside, wasn't this a little strange? What would a young, female Yato be doing on Earth? The Yato clan was a dying breed, and females were especially rare. In fact, if Abuto thought about it, only three female Yato had ever had speaking roles on _Gintama_. One, of course, was Kamui's mother, but she'd passed away years ago. Then, the Diamond Princess Mutsu (formerly of the Chidori pirates), but she'd be in her twenties by now. The last… Abuto struggled to remember. Kamui had a younger sister, right? It had been years since the Commander had mentioned her, and Abuto had almost forgotten. But it couldn't be. That child was on Rakuyou, not allying herself with samurai and fighting with the Harusame on Earth.

Abuto scanned the description again. Pale skin? Check—but all Yato shared that trait. Hair like a 'sunset's blush' and eyes like the 'ocean's depths'? He snuck a glance at Kamui, who was still picking his teeth and watching TV. Although no one in their right mind would dare use such revolting terms to describe the young man, the attributes fit Kamui—and they would fit his sister as well. But 14 years old? Let's see… Kamui was around 18 now, and if his sister was 4 years younger…

It was looking more and more likely that Kamui's little sister was the Yato girl who had fought against the Harusame on Earth. Should Abuto tell Kamui? The young man claimed to have let go of his family when he left them, but this might interest him. Abuto decided to test the waters. "Oi, Commander."

"Hm?" Kamui looked up.

"How long's it been since you left home? Ten years?"

"Nine," Kamui replied automatically.

"Ever wonder what they're up to?"

"I'm not concerned with them."

"Oh… Guess the Umibouzu's up to his old tricks, but what about that sister of yours? Ka- something?"

Kamui felt a spike of irritation. Usually Abuto knew better than to press this subject. He looked back over at the TV, which was tuned to a random news channel. "Like I said, I'm not concerned with what Kagura— what Kagura—"

The commander's voice cut off abruptly, and Abuto looked up in surprise. Kamui had accidentally stabbed himself in the gum with the toothpick, and there was a narrow line of blood over one of his white teeth, but he didn't appear to have noticed. Instead, his eyes were glued to the television screen.

 _Four suspects wanted for questioning regarding the attempted bombing of Shinsengumi officers and an Amanto embassy_ , read the screen. _Please contact the police if you have information on their whereabouts. Descriptions provided by members of the Shinsengumi._ Images of the suspects scrolled below the words.

The first: a long-haired monk with a serious expression. The picture was labeled, _Katsura_ _Kotarou, notorious terrorist. Highly dangerous. Do not attempt to approach_. _(Description provided by Inspector Yamazaki Sagaru)_

The second: a white-haired man with eyes like a dead fish. _Sakata Gintoki, nuisance to society. Natural perm bastard. Commit seppuku. (Description provided by Vice-Chief Hijikata Toushirou)_

The third: a bland-looking teenage boy wearing glasses. _Shimura Shinpachi. Future brother-in-law to the police chief of the Shinsengumi. Please marry me, Otae-san. (Description provided by Chief Kondou Isao)_

The fourth: a girl with orange hair, blue eyes, and a purple umbrella, all too familiar to the people in the room. The description rolled in at the bottom of the screen.

 _Kagura, illegal alien. Possesses inhuman fighting capabilities but subhuman intelligence. Shoot on sight. (Description provided by Captain Okita Sougo)_

 _Shoot on sight._

 _Shoot on sight._

 _Shoot on sight._

Kamui pulled the toothpick out of his teeth and lodged it at the TV. The small projectile smashed into the screen, cracking it beyond repair. "What were you saying, Abuto?"

Abuto shook his head. So much for the subtle approach…and so much for the television. "According to this report, Kagura was one of the ones involved in this Benizakura business on the Earth city, Edo. She fought with the Earthlings against the Harusame and the Kiheitai."

Kamui relaxed back into his chair, but he couldn't help feeling tense. So that was where she'd gone. Edo… The same area Hosen retired to years ago. Higher-ups were pushing for an investigation into the former commander's doings in his city of Yoshiwara. Kamui was eager to go there and challenge his old master—and see what had tempted him to stray from the battlefield—but apparently _she_ was there too. He didn't have any affection left for her, but memory was a powerful thing. When the news program had announced that the Earth police had ordered to shoot her on sight, he'd been almost— _almost_ —concerned.

The logical thing to do was to get rid of her once and for all, make sure that memory of his past life was buried. She was the only thing left connecting him to the person he was before he became strong. Kouka was dead. Umibouzu was nothing more than another enemy. Only Kagura remained. She was dangerous. Maybe just cutting her out of his life wasn't enough. To actually track down and kill such feeble prey, though… It would be like an admission of his own vulnerability.

It was decided, then. He would go down to Yoshiwara to investigate Hosen, like the elders asked. He wouldn't seek her out. As long as she stayed out of his way, as long as she couldn't affect him, he would let her live.

But if she appeared in front of him, he wouldn't hesitate to put an end to her existence—and in doing so, finally, _finally_ be rid of his last remaining weakness.

* * *

Kamui was still 18, and as he watched the King of the Night shrivel away in the sun, he felt something like pity.

…No, that feeling wasn't pity. It was amused disgust, maybe, or disappointment. How had Hosen fallen so far? How had the man who taught him to fight become so pathetic? Sake and women. No self-respecting Yato would leave the battlefield for such trifles. And Hosen had the nerve to lecture Kamui with his dying breath? Only out of consideration for the man Hosen used to be did Kamui listen patiently to his last words.

Hosen reached up toward the sun even as his skin flaked off from exposure. "Kamui, you are just like me. A person who knows only how to fight," he said.

 _Really? I'm just like you?_ Kamui thought, smiling down at the King of the Night's dying form. _I don't recall ever making myself a fool for the sake of a sun that doesn't shine on our kind_.

"You take everything by force. You hold down everything you dislike by force," Hosen continued. "You can only express love and hate through fighting.

"Kamui, you will eventually learn. When you're old and look back on the path you took, you'll find that our path is empty. Even when you find something you truly desire, you lack the arms to hold it. You can only sink your claws into it. The more you try to bring it closer, the deeper your claws sink in. The more you reach out for them, the further away they go."

Hosen looked into the daylight spread out before him for the first time in so many years. "Why must you hate me as well? Why must you reject me as well? Why… When I desire you so…"

Later, when Kagura emerged to confront her brother, injured from her fight with Abuto but still very much alive, Kamui wondered why he was a little relieved.

He could try again to kill her. He _should_. He'd already made up his mind to take her out if their paths crossed. She was spoiling for a fight, injured as she was, weak as she was. But Abuto had seen something in her worth letting survive, just as Kamui had with the silver-haired samurai who'd saved Yoshiwara. So he let her escape, and tried very hard to convince himself it had nothing to do with Hosen's warning.

* * *

Kamui was still 18, and somehow Kagura had gotten in his way once again. They were in Iga, and right now he couldn't care less about the Shogun assassination plot. His prey—the silver-haired samurai who'd stood up to Hosen—was within reach. But for some reason Kagura, of all people, had decided to resist him.

He thought it would be easy. One clean hit and she'd be done. But she kept getting up, kept _resisting_ , and so he let himself be diverted by her. He let her draw him away from Shinsuke and Gintoki, away from the fight he _really_ wanted. How stupid—if she just let him fight the samurai, she wouldn't be in danger. By asking him to fight her seriously, she was practically signing her own death warrant. Yet another way her 'bonds' had made her weak.

It was annoying to have to fight her, but she was persistent. Every time he hit her he thought she would stay down. And every time, he couldn't help being surprised when she got back up.

 _No one_ did that.

Of course, Kamui had faced opponents far stronger than Kagura. But he had never seen anyone as inexperienced, as outmatched, as _weak_ as her keep getting up to attack again. It didn't make sense. She was delusional if she thought she could beat him—not to mention the Naraku hiding in the forest whose presences she hadn't even noticed. So why did she keep getting up?

 _This time I'll make you stay down_ , Kamui thought as he walked over to where she was propped up against a tree. Her injuries were worse than his, but there was still too much defiance in her eyes as she glared at him. She spat his name, her voice forming the syllables into a challenge.

He planted the flat of his boot into her face, knowing it would be humiliating as well as painful for the prideful girl to have to taste his soles as she was shoved backward. "What's the matter? You can't stop me like that," he told her, pleased at the power of his own kick. "Targeting your opponent's injuries without hesitation was good, but you're still 100 steps short to go at it with Onii-chan."

An entire tree soared through the air next to his head. _Oh dear. Still trying to fight?_

He could hear her moving through the trees. "Maybe for you, since you have short legs like Papi. But like Mami, I have a model's figure, so one step is enough!" Her fist connected with his face.

 _Ouch_ , he thought, a bit surprised.

"This fight's just getting started, baka Aniki!"

Kamui swung his leg around to crash into her head. "Sheesh. You truly are a fool, little sister. 'Know yourself and know thy enemy' is a basic tenet of battle." He looked down at her coughing form, so small, so fragile. What did she really think she could do against him?

He let his voice run smooth and cold, stepped closer to block out the sun from her vision. "Take a good look at the length of your legs, and then your enemys'." There was nowhere for her to run from him. One move, one kick, and he could end this fight along with a few of those Naraku hiding in the shadows.

But he made a mistake. He was looking at her. Her face. Her eyes. And when he moved closer, he saw her pupils dilate in fear.

In that moment, Kagura—his little sister—was afraid of him.

Why was that a surprise? He'd _wanted_ her to stop looking so defiant, hadn't he? So why did his aim change mid-kick, shift just a few degrees up, so he was kicking just the tree and not her head?

"The enemy isn't always right in front of your eyes," he said, reverting back to his usual cheerful persona as the Naraku appeared from the trees.

 _So get up. And stop looking so scared of me._

 _Defiance suits you, Kagura._

* * *

Kamui was _still_ 18, and the battle on Rakuyou was over. Matters with his family were probably as close to resolution as they ever would be. His father…well, there was enough bad blood between the two of them to fill a few oceans, so he doubted he'd be receiving New Year's cards from Umibouzu anytime soon. But still, he didn't hate the man like he used to. Kamui and Umibouzu had both been foolish to leave the family Kouka had given up immortality for. The least Kamui could do in penitence was stop _actively_ seeking Umibouzu's demise.

Kagura, on the other hand… Things had changed between them. He'd seen how much she'd matured over the years. She hadn't remained helpless and dependent like he thought she would. In his absence (not to mention their parents'), Kagura had become strong. Not as strong as he was, but strong enough to surprise him. Strong enough to pull him back to himself when he awakened and lost his reason, just like she had with their father all those years ago. Strong enough to force him to admit to himself that after all this time, he could never really let her go.

It didn't matter what had come between them—abandonment, hatred, negligence, death threats, murder attempts—they were still connected. Kagura would always be his weak point. She would always be a distraction from the path he'd chosen, and there was nothing he could do about it.

It would be so much easier to stop loving her, but family just doesn't work that way.

The only thing he could do was leave again. When she'd put her arms around him at the end of their battle, and when he'd fallen asleep in her lap, she'd felt like home. Like as long as she was there, he'd always have a way out of the darkness. And that was dangerous. Maybe Kamui could accept the fact that he cared about her, but he was still a very different person than the boy who left this planet nine years ago. Kagura was like home…a home he could no longer return to. His home was on his ship with his pirates and on the battlefield.

And that ship would be leaving in just a few hours… Kamui shouldn't be dawdling here. He'd come to his mother's grave to leave her a bouquet of the Yǔxīng flowers like before. Now, as he knelt before the stone memorial, he lay them down gently and murmured a prayer for her.

A few drops of rain fell down from the sky to make dark dots on the stone. A soft smile crossed his face. "Don't be too angry that I'm leaving Kagura again, Mother," he said to the empty air. As if in response, the drizzle of rain amplified into a shower. Kamui opened his umbrella over his head. "There's no need to worry. This time she's not alone. That girl found a new family on Earth. She's better off with them…" _and far away from me_ , he finished silently.

Maybe Kagura was too weak to survive in his world.

Maybe Kamui was too tainted to deserve a place in hers.

Or maybe it was just that the past nine years had damaged their relationship beyond repair. Kamui would no longer pretend she didn't matter to him, but things could never go back to the way they had been in childhood. If he could take those nine years back, he'd do things differently. He'd find a way to keep her by his side without losing sight of his ultimate goal—strength. But for now, the only thing he could do was leave her behind, yet again, without saying goodbye.

Kamui took a deep breath and stood up, feeling his injuries stinging and aching from the movement. As he made to leave, a memory came to mind caught on the image of the flowers he'd left on the grave. Yǔxīng flowers… His mother had said a long time ago that they were only her favorite because Kamui brought them to her. She'd also said that they were probably Kagura's least favorite, because the young girl only saw them when Kamui was already gone. They were a symbol of greeting to his mother, but a farewell to Kagura.

And once again, he was only able to say goodbye through these flowers. This time, though, they would hold another meaning.

"I'm sorry, Kagura."

Kamui stepped away from the grave, and this time he didn't look back.

* * *

And now Kamui was 19, and the blood on his hands was his little sister's.

 _Kamui, you are just like me,_ Hosen had said back in Yoshiwara. _A person who knows only how to fight._

That was just the blood of the Yato. Fighting was the only thing worth doing. Strength was all that mattered.

 _You take everything by force._

He'd taken Kagura. Kidnapped her 5-year-old self and tried to force her to be like him.

 _You hold down everything you dislike by force._

He'd been prepared to keep her like that. To erase the person the past ten years had made her.

 _You can only express love and hate through fighting._

And then, when she escaped, he'd sought her out again. He'd wanted to show her that deep down, she had the same darkness in her that he did. He'd known full well she was too prideful and she retained too much faith in him to turn down the challenge.

 _Kamui, you will eventually learn. When you're old and look back at the path you took, you'll find that our path is empty._

He already knew it was empty. He'd always known that. So why did he suddenly feel so alone?

 _Even when you find something you truly desire, you lack the arms to hold it. You can only sink your claws into it._

His sister. His family. He _wanted_ to be her ally. He _wanted_ to see her grow up and become strong. But all he knew how to do was betray her trust.

 _The more you try to bring it closer, the deeper your claws sink in._

The sound her breaking ribs made when he kicked her. The raw shock churning in her eyes. The warmth when he punched through her body. The stench of her blood everywhere, inescapable—

 _The more you reach out for them, the further away they go._

Was she alive?

Kamui wanted her to be alive.

He wanted to see her face—not the face of the woman or the child, but the 15-year-old girl she really was. He wanted her to glare first, and then smile, because she never gave up on him. Ever. She'd forgiven the unforgivable before. She would forgive this too. She had to.

But she had to survive first.

And Kamui knew what he had to do to get her back.

"You! Halt!" a voice yelled. Kamui had reached the place he'd landed his escape pod (a modest vessel approximately the size of an outhouse) next to a stream in a forest clearing, but he'd run into trouble as well. A uniformed guardsman was standing next to the ship. "Identify yourself. Does this ship belong to you?"

The man carried no weapon Kamui could see, so this was probably a patrol officer and not one of the ones who'd attacked him, Kagura, and Sougo back on the cliffs. Now that he thought about it, this could actually be good luck.

Kamui made sure to keep to the shadows. The guard frowned. "Did you not hear me? Identify yourself!"

"How tall are you?" asked the Yato pleasantly.

"Wh-What?" the guard sputtered.

Kamui inspected the man. "You look like you're around my height. I think my shoulders are a little broader than yours, but beggars can't be choosers, hm?"

"What are you talking about?" The guard squinted at the odd stranger with the stained clothing. A little suspicious, but he was smiling so reassuringly… "It's dangerous for civilians to be in these woods. There have been reports of criminals escaping here."

"What kind of criminals?" Kamui asked, holding back a laugh.

"Three terrorists caused a ruckus up on the Kings' Faces. Over a dozen members of the Royal Guard were severely injured trying to apprehend them."

"How frightening. Have they been identified? Just so I know who to look out for."

The naïve guardsman nodded. "Two are from Earth, Captain Okita Sougo of the Shinsengumi and his companion, Queen Kagura of Kabukicho. They escaped to the southeast, but we have their information from the immigration papers they filled out. The Guard will find them soon, but you had better keep an eye out."

 _Queen Kagura_ … Kamui's smile deepened. No doubt she'd used a nickname— _Queen of Kabukicho_ —as her occupation on her immigration papers, not expecting to be taken seriously. "What about the third criminal?"

"We haven't identified him yet, but us guards have been told to watch out for a smiling man with braided hair wielding an…umbrella…" The guard looked more closely at the man in the shadows. "…On your clothes, are those stains…blood—" Kamui's hand snapped down onto the back of the guard's head and he fell unconscious mid-sentence.

Ah, well. No need to kill the man. He'd been useful, after all, and Kamui wasn't the type to squish a cockroach. Kamui pulled the tie off his braid and shook his hair loose. The usually soft strands (who ever said pirates didn't bother with conditioner? After what happened to Umibouzu's hair, Kamui was very careful with his own) were matted with blood and sweat. He'd need to wash up a little, but at least there was a creek nearby. Kamui stripped free of his shirt, pants, and shoes before stepping into the water and letting the current carry the evidence of the fight away from him in pinkish trails. Every place his skin had been broken stung like hell in the cool water, but it felt good to get the blood off his body. The smaller wounds were already healing.

Once satisfied, Kamui left the creek bed and got to work taking off the guard's uniform. Oukoku had a variety of different raiment styles, but the Royal Guard's uniform seemed to involve lots of complicated layers and fastenings. At least it seemed the uniform covered almost all exposed skin and included a hooded cloak—if Kamui wanted to blend in on the streets of the capital city, he'd have to leave his umbrella behind, and by now, the sun was uncomfortably high in the sky.

Having divested the poor guard of his uniform, Kamui pulled it on himself. He'd been right earlier—it was a good fit, if a little tight in the shoulders.

He put his bloody clothes on the unconscious guard, braided the man's long hair, and stuck the umbrella in his hand. A perfect match for the description of the third terrorist. Hopefully that would be enough to keep the authorities' attention for a while once they found the man.

Loose-haired and unsmiling, Kamui began the long journey back to the capital. It wasn't his style to disguise himself in hopes of _avoiding_ a fight, but now he had an objective in mind.

His little sister needed him. And this time, he was going to come through.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Well? Was that as fun to read as it was to write? I'll be sad if it wasn't, haha. Unfortunately not a whole lot of plot development, but Kamui needed a wake-up call. Hopefully that explained his actions a little bit._

 _I gave the flower Kamui gives to his mom a really random name—yǔ xīng (_ 雨星 _) with the Chinese characters for rain and star. I'm not a flower person, so I have no idea what the flower is really called, but I seriously doubt that Kamui knows either._

 _Next time, Chapter 14:_ Omens From the Universe Only Appear When You Look for Them


	16. Omens

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 14: Omens From the Universe Only Appear When You Look for Them

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Thanks everyone for being patient! I've really loved reading your reviews._

* * *

Sougo wasn't sure how long Sadaharu had been running from the guards at the capital, but the sun's position in the sky had advanced enough for him to assume it had been several hours. Once again he'd been surprised at how intelligent the dog was. At the moment—presumably in an effort to confuse anyone pursuing them through the woods—Sadaharu was wading down a shallow river in the shade with Kagura, Sougo, and the packages still on its back.

"We should stop," Sougo told the dog. At least there was no one conscious around to hear him talking to it. "By now we should be far enough away from the Guard. I need to try to treat her."

Sadaharu barked in reply and climbed onto the riverbank into a forest clearing alive with flowers, insects, and other wildlife. There was a conveniently-placed copse of trees next to a rocky overhang where they could stop. Kagura needed shade, after all…though right now, the sunlight was the least of her worries. Sougo took off his jacket and laid it down on the grassy floor before gently sliding Kagura off Sadaharu's back and laying her down her over it.

He had to do something about her injury, but what? His limited knowledge of first aid didn't cover what to do to save someone with a literal hole in their stomach. No human being could have survived this. Only because Kagura was a Yato was her pulse still present, though it was disturbingly fluttering and weak. He'd barely lifted his hand from her neck as they rode earlier, making sure that she was just unconscious, not dead.

Sougo crouched down next to her and looked at the wound. It was festering, surrounded by flaky smears of dried blood… Fuck. _Fuck_. What could he even do? Cleaning it would be the first step, but how? And would that even help?

Sadaharu whimpered at the sight of his master on the ground. He lay down next to the policeman and licked her face worriedly. Then, his ears perked up and he bit Sougo's sleeve to get his attention.

"What?" asked Sougo, still spellbound with disgust at the sight of the wound.

Sadaharu yipped and motioned with his head to the packages on his back. Sougo looked up and pulled them down from where they'd been tied. _Just shopping bags from Kagura's expedition in the capital city, right?_ He paused as he uncovered a familiar suitcase. _No, wait. Not just shopping bags._

This was his—the suitcase he'd brought with him when he left Edo. The one the Umibouzu had recovered. Sadaharu had been carrying it around this whole time? He patted the dog on the head.

If he remembered correctly, he'd packed a small first aid kit. Nothing fancy, just a standard-issue Shinsengumi kit that was given to every officer on an extended mission. It wouldn't even be close to enough to give Kagura the treatment she needed, but it could help.

Now that he had a purpose, he got to work. China was wearing a simple one-piece dress with slits up the sides like a qipao, and he'd have to take it off if he wanted to treat her. He tore the fabric remorselessly— _not like it's not ruined already_ —and put it aside in case he needed something to boil and use for bandages later. With the help of the first aid kid, he did his best to clean the wound, sterilize it, and wrap it with clean bandages.

Once the main injury was dealt with (as well as it could be), Sougo sat back and assessed Kagura's condition. She was covered in wounds, but he knew better than to worry about broken ribs and fractured legs at this point. None of those were life-threatening. They would heal on their own. Anyone who got in as many fights as she did should have dozens of scars, but aside from the evidence of her recent battle, Kagura's skin was smooth and unmarked. Funny that the Yato's healing ability—part of what made them such fearsome warriors—also gave Kagura the appearance of an average girl, one who'd never seen battle, one who'd never known pain…

As Kagura lay before him in only her underwear, Sougo felt a twinge of out-of-character discomfort. He didn't feel bad for stripping off her clothes—it was just the China girl, after all, and even if it wasn't, it'd be impossible for him to look at _anyone_ sexually in this situation—but something still felt wrong.

"Not about to complain, are you?" he asked.

Kagura didn't move.

That was it, wasn't it. The Kagura he knew would never allow him to take off her clothes, even if it was medically necessary. Part of Sougo was still waiting for her to sit up, call him a pervert, and try to punch his lights out. But she didn't. She just lay there, still and silent, looking more like a marble statue than flesh and blood.

Sougo put his fingers to her neck yet again to check for a pulse. It was there. Weak, thready, but there. He exhaled.

She'd be pissed if she woke up in her bra and underwear. It would be a pain if she made things worse by moving around. Sougo leaned over her and carefully guided her arms into the sleeves of his jacket, the one he'd put under her. He snapped the fastenings closed over the front of her body. Despite her magical age change she was still significantly shorter than him, so the jacket alone covered everything important. He could always open it again if he needed to look at the wound.

Sougo breathed a deep sigh and sat back against Sadaharu's lying body. When was the last time he'd gotten a full night's sleep? It must have been on the pirate ship, but that was days ago, and the exhaustion had been catching up to him for a while now.

The smell of wet dog was pungent up close, but it was nothing compared to the shared bathroom in the Shinsengumi's living quarters back home, and Sougo was used to dealing with that. Sougo closed his eyes. Sadaharu blew air out of his nose but allowed Sougo to use him as a pillow, and the two of them settled into a fretful sleep.

…

Kagura woke, hours later, to the sound of a river. She was outside, then… The air smelled like plants and trees and swampy creek smells. There was a breeze coming in from somewhere, and the chill was welcome against her feverish skin.

She willed herself to get up off the ground, but her muscles weren't listening to her. Even her eyelids were so heavy she couldn't open them. She tried to focus on something other than the pain—the mating songs of cicadas in the trees, the delicate itch of grass poking into her bare legs, even the film of sweat sticking to her neck—but the hurt was impossible to ignore. Achy and sluggish, she tried once again to move, but a hot spike of searing pain in her torso nearly forced her back into unconsciousness.

Sougo shook off the lethargy of his nap when Kagura hissed in pain. _She's awake?_ Her eyes were still closed, but he'd heard something. He leaned over to look for a sign that the girl had regained consciousness.

When Kagura's eyes snapped open, the sadist's face was over hers. She stared up for a second, completely dumbfounded. For a second—just a second—she forgot about the injury that was keeping her pinned to the grass like a mounted butterfly. Why was _he_ here? What had happened?

She'd been fighting Aniki. She'd thought she won, and Sougo appeared and said they had to go, that the police were coming after her for breaking a monument or something. And then, Aniki had woken up…

The pain in Kagura's side sharpened and she suppressed a snarl. Kamui did that. Another wave of heat rippled out from the injury, reminding her that she couldn't move, not even enough to curse Kamui's name like she desperately wanted to. She knew how bad things were. This wasn't the kind of wound that healed. Ever.

Kagura…was dying. She could feel her body breaking down. Some of the lighter cuts and bruises she'd gotten in the fight should already have healed by now, but they hadn't. Her cells were losing the ability to regenerate. Or something. She didn't know the details, but she did know she didn't have that long.

She bit the inside of her cheek hard. Maybe to distract from the pain. Maybe to stave off tears.

She wasn't sure what happened after Kamui punched her, but they'd been running away from soldiers with Sadaharu or something. Why was the sadist still here with her? And why was his face so close?

The glassy blue of Kagura's eyes startled Sougo for a second, but when she didn't say anything, he put his hand on her forehead. Her skin was uncomfortably warm and clammy. _Fever_.

"…Don't…touch me, uh-huh…" Kagura seemed like she was struggling to speak. There was sweat on her brow.

Sougo pulled his hand back. "You should thank me for saving your life, brat."

Kagura hissed as fire licked her side once again. Neither of them would say it, but they both knew Sougo was just prolonging the inevitable. "…Why're you…here?" Kagura asked.

"Thanks to you and your murdering brother, we can't go back to the capital. We're fugitives of the law. It won't be long before the Royal Guard tracks us down."

If they were running from the law, why was Sougo still with her? He'd be more mobile if he left her behind. Sure, she couldn't stand him, but he'd gotten into a lot of trouble because of her (although most of it was that baka Aniki's fault). Stupid idiot tax robber probably thought it was his 'duty' or something to watch over her last moments. Kagura closed her eyes. "Take Sadaharu…and go, uh-huh."

"What?" said Sougo.

Kagura huffed out a growl, annoyed that he hadn't understood her intentions. Did she really have to spell it out for him? "I told you back then…that I refuse…to be a burden."

' _Back then'?_ Sougo thought. Oh…she'd said something like that the last time they'd been in this situation, that time with the innkeeper's daughter. But things hadn't changed on his end, either. "If you remember that, then you should remember that I refuse to be in your debt."

Kagura's eyes shot open and she glared. "Don't be…stubborn, uh-huh."

"Look who's talking," Sougo shot back. "I'm not leaving you, China."

The sadist's choice of words took Kagura by surprise. Not leaving her? She always got left behind. Figures that the one time she _wanted_ someone to leave, he'd be too stupid to do it. The sadist was apparently determined to stay by her side. Seriously, that guy could get on her nerves like no other.

She had to admit, though, if this forest was going to be her deathbed, she didn't want to be alone.

Dying was worse than she'd imagined it. Not that she'd really ever imagined it. The few times the thought of death had crossed her mind, she'd always assumed it'd be like how it was on TV dramas. When she was old, surrounded by grandchildren, maybe. Or on the battlefield, in one swift stroke, as she protected something important. Not this. Slowly, sickeningly slowly, after a fight she'd lost. She hadn't protected anything.

And it hurt so much. A person's last moments were supposed to be peaceful, weren't they? But Kagura was suffering. She wished she had died immediately. She wished she hadn't had to see Kamui abandon her, hadn't had to feel the terrible powerlessness of not being able to stop him once again. She looked over at Sougo, searching for the right words. "…If I were a stranger…you'd have already…put…me out of my misery."

Sougo didn't look up, but his hand curled into a fist. True, he'd normally be happy to assist someone as close to death as she appeared to be, but _she_ was a special case. "Maybe I just like seeing you in pain, China."

The statement was hollow and Kagura let it slide. "…If…if I asked… Would you—"

"Not even if you begged me," Sougo said in monotone, outwardly unfazed but inwardly disturbed. Was she actually asking him to finish her off? Or was she just curious as to whether he _would_ do it? The thought of it made his skin crawl.

Kagura sighed, out of a mixture of disappointment and relief. Sougo wasn't going to make this easy on her. And now she was letting the last bits of her life tick by, lying on the ground in a forest, with only her greatest rival (and her pet dog) for company. At least it was pretty here. The river; the lush trees; the flowers sprouting up all around her, white-petaled with peach-pink stamen… When she recognized the type of flower growing in delicate sprays all around her, Kagura wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

Yǔxīng flowers.

Kagura was going to die surrounded by Yǔxīng flowers.

"…I hate these, uh-huh," Kagura said, because Sougo was the only one here she could talk to and she was dying anyway so what the hell—she could bare a little bit of her soul.

"These what?" Sougo asked, a little glad she was done trying to get him to kill her. That wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"These flowers…they were my mother's favorite…but I don't like them, uh-huh."

When Sougo didn't say anything, Kagura continued, more for the sake of filling the silence than anything else. "She died…when I was little… She'd been sick all my life, but I was still really surprised… Even though I should have known, uh-huh."

Sougo had heard this story before, from the 5-year-old Kagura. And again, he felt it resonate with him. "Even if you know what's going to happen, you still never believe it until it happens," he said. "I know."

Kagura waited for him to elaborate.

 _May as well_ , Sougo thought. It wasn't like him to spill his life story, but these were special circumstances. "I'm an orphan. I barely remember my parents, but I had an older sister. She died of a lung disease last year."

"What…was she like?" asked Kagura.

Sougo slumped down so that he was lying on the ground next to Kagura, looking up at the tree canopy above them. This was strange. They were actually holding a civil conversation about something…intimate. But it didn't feel wrong. He searched for some way to sum up his beloved sister, some phrase that could put into words how much she'd meant to him. "She…was the responsible one. She took care of me a lot when I was young. I could never pay her back for that."

Actually, he had lost track of the date since they were kidnapped by the pirates, but hadn't her birthday come and gone in the last few days? "Her birthday was just a few days ago…" He laughed drily. "I forgot it. I guess I was really useless as a younger brother.

"I should have done more for her. When I moved from Bushu to Edo to form the Shinsengumi, she wanted to come, but she ended up staying in the country. She was always smiling, though, all the way up to the end."

Kagura's voice was soft and labored. "She…must have been kind…uh-huh. I don't know if you would get it, but being the one left behind…is really painful… She must have loved you a lot…to smile and say goodbye."

Sougo turned and looked at Kagura. Tears were welling up in her eyes, but she was staring straight up as if determined not to let them fall.

' _The one left behind', huh…_ Sougo knew from the pirate ship that Kamui had left his younger sister when she was a child. Her father, the alien hunter, didn't have a job that allowed him to be home much. And since her mother had died when she was young… From what Sougo could see, Kagura was an expert at being left behind.

Something Kondou had said when the Umibouzu visited Earth and killed the alien that took over the terminal a while ago jumped to Sougo's mind. It was something about there being two types of men—the kind who stay and provide for their families and the kind who are always out seeking the next hunt. Umibouzu belonged to the latter group, and so Kondou had concluded that Kagura must have been lonely up until she met the Yorozuya.

Maybe it was guilt toward his sister mixing in with his feelings, but Sougo actually felt… _sorry_ for Kagura.

He reached out for Kagura's hand and laced their fingers together, countering Kagura's feeble protests with a simple, "Shut up, China."

"The hell…are you doing, sadist?" Kagura asked with no shortage of hostility.

Sougo shrugged. "You made me feel bad for my sister, so I'm using you as a proxy. Just shut up and lie still."

Kagura growled but was too exhausted and weak to do anything about it. Besides, the hand holding hers felt kind of nice, a reminder that someone else was here with her. _If only it wasn't connected to the prince of sadists._

It wasn't long before Sougo knew Kagura had slipped back into unconsciousness, still holding his hand. He shifted his grip so he could assess her heartbeat and the fever covering her body in a suffocating blanket. Their conversation was bothering him. Kagura had spoken like she was resigned to her death.

It wasn't like her. Reluctant acceptance wasn't like her. Kagura was supposed to be fighting back. Maybe the outcome was inevitable—Sougo had seen too much death to entertain romantic notions like 'miracles'—but Kagura had thwarted the inevitable before. She'd beaten Kamui into the ground. Sougo wasn't sure he'd ever really believed she could do it, but she had—if only by using her future self's body. Regardless of the extraterrestrial strategies she'd used, she'd single-handedly fought her brother into submission—something that should have been impossible. If only she'd finished the job there…but then, that wouldn't have been like her either.

Sougo couldn't do anything else for her. If there was an enemy to fight, he'd happily oblige. If Kamui were here… But killing the pirate wouldn't help Kagura now. She'd already lost.

It was almost funny. Sougo was an unabashed sadist. His favorite activity was breaking a person's spirit and bending their will to fit his. And yet here lay his annoying little rival, spirit broken, will to live gone, and he wasn't anything close to satisfied. Kagura wasn't Kagura without fire in her eyes.

After a while of lying next to Kagura's sleeping body holding her hand, Sougo stood up and decided he should at least try to make a plan. They couldn't go back to the capital, not while they were being pursued as enemies of Oukoku. Kagura needed to see a real doctor, but in her defenseless condition she'd be in danger if they returned. Sougo could try to go back by himself and explain things—after all, Kamui would make an excellent scapegoat—but he wasn't sure he could leave Kagura here by herself.

Looking at the things strewn around the area, Sougo decided to take inventory in case there was some kind of magic cure laying around that he hadn't seen. The policeman opened up his suitcase and pawed through the contents. Nothing useful there aside from the first aid kit he'd already brought out and a pair of handcuffs, just the clothes and other items he'd taken with him for the trip. He still had his rocket launcher, which would be helpful if they came across enemies.

Then there was Kagura's umbrella, which he knew could fire bullets somehow. It might be useful in case he ran out of warheads for the launcher. Sougo slid his hand along the handle until he found a stiff, protruding catch right where his trigger finger would fall if he held it like a rifle. He directed the tip of the umbrella at a tree a few meters in the distance and pressed on the catch.

Nothing happened.

Sougo tried again, only to receive the same result. He'd just assume the umbrella wasn't firing because it was out of bullets, but the catch/trigger thing wasn't even moving under Sougo's finger. _One last time_. Sougo pulled at the catch with all his might, and finally a round fired off into the distance, far from where he'd thought he was aiming.

 _Damn it_. The policeman shook his sore hand. The trigger weight on this weapon was probably over fifty pounds. Even as the strongest sword arm in the Shinsengumi, he wouldn't be able to fire such a weapon accurately. Only a Yato would be able to summon that much strength so quickly. No wonder that beastly clan was the only one to use these weapons. He put the umbrella back down.

Maybe there was something that could help in the shopping bags and packages that had been tied on Sadaharu's back with Sougo's suitcase. He selected one of the bags and looked inside.

…Clothes. Well, what had he expected? From what he could judge by the sizing, Kagura had bought these clothes for her real 15-year-old body, not the 19-year-old one she was currently inhabiting. The other bags' contents were mostly unsurprising. Clothes, toiletries, and a large amount of what Sougo could only assume was the Oukoku version of the China girl's favorite snack—sukonbu. She'd probably been focused on replacing her belongings that had been left on the pirate ship. In one of the bags he was half-surprised to find a narrow strip of photos, taken in a photo booth. The first two featured Kagura alone, but the next were dominated by a huge dog head—apparently, Sadaharu had tried to climb inside the booth just as it was taking pictures.

A few items packaged in wrapping paper and labeled with names seemed a little out of place. These were probably gifts, souvenirs to bring back for the people back home on Earth. There was a 'learn to cook' book of Oukoku recipes labeled with the title "Anego"—the gorilla woman Kondou had taken it upon himself to constantly stalk—ahem, _constantly protect_. Sougo remembered multiple occasions Kondou had been forced to go to the hospital after eating her lethal omelets. Another package, this one intended for "Papi", was a tube of special hair-growth cream that could only be found in Oukoku.

Aware and uncaring that he had exited the realm of 'innocently looking for something useful' and was now simply snooping, Sougo picked up the gift marked "Gin-chan" and opened it to find a stack of dirty magazines and a large bottle of the country's sweet liquor. A perfect gift for the lazy samurai, but Sougo made a note to himself to confiscate both items if they ever made it back to Earth. He could cite the law, minor in possession or something. The gift intended for the male Shimura was the exact same 'learn to cook' book Kagura had given to his sister—apparently China didn't have high hopes for Otae's cooking ability. For "Soyo-chan", Kagura had bought a pretty sapphire-colored bottle of perfume and a box of the same Oukoku sukonbu.

There was one last package, but it wasn't labeled or wrapped like the others. Instead, it had been left in a long, skinny brown box. Curious, Sougo flipped the top open and pulled the packing paper out of the way.

It was…a sword? From the sheath, Sougo could tell it wasn't made in the style of a Western broadsword. The slight curve, the narrow width…wasn't this a katana?

If it was a katana, it wasn't like any Sougo had ever seen. The sheath and the grip were made of pale silvery-grey wood decorated with metallic black inlay, and the guard boasted an intricate design of metal vines and leaves. Sougo lifted it and drew the blade from its sheath, relishing the way it felt in his hands, like an old friend. The blade was made of some dark grey metal that probably didn't exist on Earth. As Sougo twisted the sword, light winked off the wickedly sharp edge. A little flashy in design, but it was surprisingly well-balanced.

Sougo wrapped his fingers around the grip, his bored slouch automatically shifting to a ready stance. He hadn't held a sword since they were kidnapped over a week ago (unless you counted the clunky broadsword he'd used to fight Kamui on the pirate ship, and Sougo didn't). He'd missed holding a sword—a real sword—more than he realized. He gave the sword a powerful swing, pleased when it effortlessly cut through the trunk of one of the trees nearby. A few more slashes, and there was a clearing where before there'd been only forest.

Cutting down trees was rough treatment, but the blade hadn't even dulled. This was a good sword. It felt natural in Sougo's hands. He wasn't sure why Kagura had it—another present for 'Gin-chan' despite the sword ban, maybe?—but he was sure she wouldn't mind him borrowing it.

Because, of course, there were enemies around.

…

A loud clicking hum pulled Sougo's attention upward. There was some kind of vessel hovering in the air above the forest. _Shit._ They'd been found by the Royal Guard already?

Or had they? Sougo squinted at the miniature ship. The design didn't look like a ship from the Oukoku. Those markings on the side, a faded red diamond with some indistinct squiggles coming out of it, along with a number 7…

…Wasn't that the symbol of the Harusame? Or more accurately, the 7th Division, formerly of the Harusame?

Sougo stepped further away from the clearing and swept a wary glance over Kagura's unconscious form. It wasn't the Royal Guard that had found them. It was Kamui. Why had he sought them out? To finish the job, maybe? Or… Sougo searched for a plausible alternative. Maybe Kamui was here to pay his respects. The space criminal seemed like the type who was arrogant enough to darken the deathbed of someone he'd put there, but he'd have to care about Kagura first. Either way, Kamui's reason for being here didn't matter much to Sougo. He had no reason to let the pirate get close.

Except the ship…could he take the ship? Maybe he could use it to get Kagura back to the capital? But no—even if the escape pod was large enough for more than one person, even if he could risk the journey with Kagura in this state, approaching the capital or any other city would be impossible. They'd be shot down as soon as they got within missile range.

Sougo sheathed the sword. As much as he liked it, exterminating the Yato midair was a job for the officer's other favorite weapon. Just as the ship dipped lower, closer to the clearing Sougo had made, he hoisted the bazooka onto his shoulder and shot a warhead into the vessel.

Sougo braced himself as the impact of the warhead sent a wave of force expanding outward from the escape pod, flattening the grass and bending trees. There was nothing quite like the image of a ship exploding into flames in the middle of the sky, though it only lasted a second before the burning wreckage dropped through the air directly into the river. Sougo picked up his sword and stalked over to the river bank to make sure nothing remained alive in the smoldering heap.

"Ah, that's a shame," said Kamui, kicking aside a hunk of twisted metal and wading out of the river. "You ruined my escape route. How am I supposed to fly back to meet my ship in space, Earth policeman?"

It wasn't much of a surprise that the Yato had survived the explosion. Kamui looked totally unharmed, aside from the bits of debris on his singed clothing—a Royal Guard uniform, oddly enough. As Kamui moved into the light, he flipped up the heavy hood of the outer cape to block the sun's rays. "You won't need it, space criminal," Sougo replied easily, flicking the guard of the sword so its blade peeked out from the sheath. "If you really want to go up into the sky, I'm happy to send you there."

Kamui's lips curled up into a cold sneer. "That's no good, Sougo-san. Bad guys like you and me don't get to go into the sky when we die."

"Speak for yourself," said Sougo, mirroring Kamui's sneer. "I've been a good guy since day one."

"Is that what you think? Well, I don't really care. I'm not here to fight. I need to see Kagura."

Sougo took notice of Kamui's use of the word 'need'. Not 'want', but 'need'. As unconcerned as the other man looked, a measure of urgency had entered his voice when he talked about Kagura. Already Kamui was stepping past Sougo toward his sister.

She looked still, too still. "Is she—" Kamui started to ask, but he caught sight of the faint rise and fall of her chest. She was alive, then.

Barely.

Her skin was paler than ever, sweating, feverish, hot at her forehead but cool near her fingertips. Kamui hardly noticed Sougo's eyes assessing his movements as he skimmed the back of his hand over Kagura's exposed skin. Her breath was too shallow. Deeply mired in unconsciousness, she hadn't reacted in any way to the explosion.

"What are you doing, space criminal?" Sougo said from behind Kamui, sliding his blade against the Yato's neck in warning. "You're not the type to turn your back to an enemy, are you?"

Despite the obvious threat from Sougo's sword, Kamui knew Sougo wasn't planning on slitting his throat right here. There was genuine curiosity in the Earthling's voice. Kamui flicked the sword away easily and sat back down at Kagura's side. "I have something for her."

"If it's another killer punch, I think one was enough," Sougo said lightly, but it took genuine effort to keep the anger out of his voice.

Kamui didn't look up from Kagura's face. Seeing her like this was bringing up uncomfortable memories. Their mother had looked like this, too, at the end. The pain on her face that showed even in her sleep, the unsteady rise and fall of her ribcage.

And it wasn't just the way she looked…he couldn't help the swell of emotion as he watched her. _The helplessness of not being able to do anything to save her. The cold fingers of guilt as he watched someone he loved struggle to draw breath._

But things were different this time, different from when his mother died. This time, unlike before, it really was his fault that the woman before him was going to die. And this time, Kamui wasn't helpless.

Kamui pulled a cobalt glass bottle from one of the pockets of his coat. It had been a pain to get this. He'd had to disguise himself as a member of the Royal Guard to walk into the capital city where he was being hunted like a rat (not to mention it'd been the middle of the day and he'd only had his hood for protection from the sun). He'd sought out no fewer than six doctors before finding the one who had changed Kagura's body from a 5-year-old to a 19-year-old. Then, he'd had to leave the city (they were already putting up 'wanted' posters for the three terrorists with their names and descriptions), run all the way back to his escape pod, and then scour the forest from the air looking for some sign of his sister.

"What's that?" asked Sougo, watching his adversary carefully. Whatever was in that bottle had been worth tracking them down for. Poison didn't seem like the violent Yato's preferred method of killing, but one could never be certain.

Kamui held the blue bottle up to the light to examine its contents. The liquid inside was a waxy red that glimmered where the sunlight caught it.

"A magic potion," he said.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: Ahhh! We're getting there, folks! Got some nice angsty Okikagu content in this chapter, and then maybe a light at the end of the tunnel? Next chapter is the end of arc II…_

 _Your feedback really keeps me going and might even inspire me to update sooner, so make sure to leave a review so I know what you liked (or what you didn't—I can take it, lol)._

 _Next time, Chapter 15:_ Medicine Comes With a Warning Label for a Reason


	17. Medicine

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 15: Medicine Comes With a Warning Label for a Reason

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: Last chapter of arc II! Are you as excited as I am?_

* * *

"A magic potion," Sougo repeated blankly.

Kamui palmed the vial and curled his fingers around it. The liquid felt pleasantly warm against his skin, despite just having been doused in ice-cold river water along with Kamui's ship. "Yep. The kind that turns a fallen queen—" he motioned to Kagura's unconscious body "—back into a bratty princess."

"Have you finally lost your last remaining marbles?" Sougo asked. "Or were you always this crazy?"

Kamui laughed. "This planet has a lot of strange things. I picked up this potion in a doctor's office. It's pretty lucky I overheard Kagura tell you she left it there, hm?"

Sougo hesitated. A potion. A doctor's office. Something Kagura had forgotten. In the chaos, he'd let the detail slip from the front of his mind, but Kagura had never intended to stay in her 19-year-old body forever, had she? The doctor had let her have a potion that would reverse the process—no, a potion that would _give Kagura her 15-year-old body back_ —but she'd left it at the doctor's. "You…went back for that?"

"It took me a long time to find it. You know, they're hunting down the three of us in the capital. I had to sneak in." Kamui patted Kagura's head and gently brushed her unkempt hair away from her face.

 _So that's why he's wearing the Royal Guard's uniform,_ Sougo thought. If the potion did what Kamui clearly thought it would—get Kagura back to a body that had never been been injured like this one had—Kagura's life could be saved. But there was no guarantee the potion would even work with Kagura in this state, half-dead, not even healing her tiniest cuts. And even if it did bring her back to her 15-year old body, it could bring her injuries with it. "You don't know if that will work."

Kamui's hand stilled in Kagura's hair, and then the combing motions resumed. "It will."

"You're making a pretty big bet there."

"Do you have a better solution?"

Kamui was right—Sougo was loathe to allow the pirate anywhere near Kagura, but he couldn't help feeling hopeful. Besides, there was no alternative. Hope felt inappropriate, but Sougo gave himself permission to indulge it. _Just a little bit_.

Tension ran thick in the air as Kamui twisted open the bottle's cap, gently guided Kagura's mouth open, and positioned the dropper over her throat. One, two, three, four… Four drops fell in Kagura's mouth. Kamui closed the bottle and he and Sougo waited for some sign the potion had worked.

A spark of golden light shone, enveloping Kagura's body, so bright both men had to turn away their eyes. Energy hummed in the air. And then-

Nothing.

The light faded.

Kagura was still in her 19-year-old body, a body littered with unhealed wounds. Kamui unbuttoned Sougo's jacket, and sure enough—the hole was still there, penetrating the side of her stomach. Kagura took in a heavy, shuddering breath, and was still, as if she'd used up the last breath left in her lungs.

 _Because she had._

Slowly, slowly, Sougo stepped backward.

Kamui slapped Kagura's cheek lightly. "Wake up, Kagura. I don't have time for this. Get up."

"Don't touch her," said Sougo in monotone, because he didn't know what else to say.

Kamui didn't hear him, or wasn't listening. He slapped Kagura's face again. "Wake up. Are you really this weak? Wake up _now_. Kagura. Kagura? Look at me, Kagura. I can't—" He swallowed. "Open your eyes, right now."

"Don't touch her," said Sougo again.

Kamui was still smiling, but the smile was stretched thin. His blue eyes were wide open and his teeth were bared. Teetering on the edge of hysteria. "Kagura? I'm not just going to wait around all day. It's time to get up. Wake up. Wake up, Kagura. Did you think this would fool me? Get up."

Kagura didn't move. Didn't breathe. Sougo reached for her wrist—her pulse was gone.

"Are you listening to me?" asked Kamui, grabbing his sister's shoulders and shaking her. Her head lolled to the side like a ragdoll's. "Look at me. Wake up, Kagura! Get up right now! Wake up! Wake up, _Kagura_ —"

Sougo yanked Kamui away from his sister's body and held his sword to the other man's throat, this time in seriousness. The thoughts in his mind were jumbled and in disarray, but he didn't have time to sit down and process what had just happened. He wasn't in pain. It would be ridiculous for him to be in pain over— over _China_. He had to be angry, then. _After all, her killer is right in front of me_. "I said, _don't touch her_."

Kamui wrapped his fingers around the blade and gripped it until a trickle of blood slipped down the sharp edge. Blood, like the blood on his hand after he— after he— He tore his eyes away from Kagura's limp form to stare at Sougo. "You. She protected you."

"What?" asked Sougo.

"Why did she protect you? Why did she get in my way?" asked Kamui, barely coherent. His instincts were rearing up, clawing at his mind. _Let go of your control,_ they said. _She's gone. Awaken. You don't have to feel like this. You don't have to feel anything._

"What are you talking about?" Sougo asked, struggling to remove the sword from Kamui's grip.

Kamui barely noticed. "It was supposed to be you. On the cliff. I was aiming at you." His head was swimming. Kagura was— she'd stopped breathing. _Dead. She'd dead. That's what happens when people stop breathing_.

Why?

He'd retrieved the potion. He'd come back. He hadn't abandoned her. He'd been certain that this time wouldn't be like before. So why was he still too late?

 _You're a warrior_ , came the sinister whisper of his own instincts. _A killer. You don't need to mourn her._

 _You're not weak._

"I was aiming at you," Kamui repeated. He grabbed Sougo's collar with his free hand, control over his instincts wearing thin. "If I killed you, Kagura would have awakened. Why did she get in my way? _Why did she save you?_ "

Sougo didn't move his sword from where it was still pressing against Kamui's bloody fingers. Things had moved so fast on the cliff that he hadn't even noticed Kamui was trying to hit him with that punch. But still… "If you think she did that to save me, you're as stupid as she is." When Kamui didn't respond, Sougo continued. "China didn't want to awaken. She didn't want to kill you. That's why she stopped you from killing me."

The roar of Kamui's Yato blood quieted a bit at this revelation, but his conscious thoughts were not silenced. _Why would she do that!? Why would she die…_

… _For my sake?_

Just like their mother. Kamui had never understood that either. Why had Kouka left her home planet, given up her immortality? Just to start a family? How was that an equal exchange? Why would anyone sacrifice their own life for family?

When Kamui was young, he'd sometimes hated Kagura for her innocence. _She_ was too young to have to deal with the fact that family—love—was killing their mother. _She_ didn't have to feel guilty, knowing that she was one of the things keeping Kouka away from her native planet. _She_ didn't have the responsibilities of an adult thrust on her shoulders, all because Umibouzu couldn't be bothered to take care of his wife and children.

She was free from every burden that Kamui carried. And he couldn't help resenting her for it, at times. That resentment was what let him leave her. After all, he'd reasoned, if he'd been able to deal with those burdens at a young age, surely she would as well. He wasn't doing anything to her that fate—and Umibouzu—hadn't done to him.

Why was it only now that he could see what the difference was? Back then, even though his mother was sick, even though his father was unreliable, even though his sister was a weakling who needed constant protection, he'd had her.

How many times had Kamui told himself that Kagura—the little girl who'd never had to face up to the reality of their mother's sickness—couldn't possibly understand his feelings as he left her to fend for herself? And yet somehow she'd come to understand more than he ever had.

To give up your life for the sake of a family that doesn't deserve you…Kagura was Kouka's daughter to the end.

And Kamui… As bitter as he felt toward Umibouzu, he couldn't deny that he'd grown up as his father's son.

Both were too loyal to their Yato blood.

Both abandoned the people who loved them.

Both (if only by accident) caused the deaths of the people they should have protected.

Both saw their mistakes and attempted to find a cure.

Both…were too late.

Kagura's body lay motionless on the ground. Her face was dirty, and rust-colored smudges of dried blood decorated her skin. Kamui let go of Sougo's sword and shirt to walk over to her.

"What are you doing?" asked Sougo, who suddenly felt tired beyond belief.

Kamui ignored him. He got to his knees next to her and attempted to gather her into his arms, but—

Sadaharu, who had seemingly been napping the whole time, growled aggressively and bit down on the top of Kamui's head. As soon as Kamui backed away from her body, the dog let go, calmly licked Kagura's cheek, and went back to sleep as if without a care in the world.

Something came back to life in Sougo.

Kamui moved toward Kagura again, but received the same treatment. He looked about five seconds away from wringing the poor dog's neck when Sougo interrupted. "Dogs can smell death."

Kamui looked up, his stare flat and blank. "What?"

"That thing is obscenely attached to China." Sougo came closer to the dog. "It was freaking out earlier when we came down here, because it knew she was injured. But now it's calm."

"Get to the point."

Sougo ran a hand over the back of Sadaharu's neck. "Dogs can smell death. If China were dead, there's no way this dog would be so calm right now."

Sadaharu barked in acknowledgement. Sougo sat down, and very carefully put his hand against her neck. No pulse, but—

—her body was warm. Far warmer than it should have been, if she'd really died when Kamui gave her the potion.

Kamui's heart was beating oddly quickly. He copied Sougo's movement, observed the odd warmth. It reminded him of the way the potion had felt unnaturally warm through the glass bottle. The Yato leaned down and—to Sougo's mild disgust—sniffed the crook of Kagura's neck. Dirt, blood, sweat, and then, underneath, _Kagura_.

"She's alive," he said to himself, just loudly enough for Sougo to hear.

 _Alive!_

Sougo decided now was probably not the time to question the fact that Kamui apparently had an animal's sense of smell (was that a Yato thing or just a sister-complex thing?). Instead, he picked up the cobalt bottle from the ground where Kamui'd left it earlier to read the label out loud. "Youth potion, regresses your body to its previous state… One drop for every year in the past… _User will enter a state of suspension while the potion takes effect_."

Silence. Sougo looked down at Kagura. Now that he looked at her, she looked a little bit younger than she had before Kamui gave her the potion. The sleeves of his jacket were farther down on her hands than they were before—her body was smaller. The potion was doing its work, but it was keeping her in a state of complete suspension, which would explain why she wasn't breathing and he couldn't feel her pulse. Actually, although it was barely noticeable, some of the cuts had sealed up while he and Kamui had believed Kagura to be dead. "…You didn't read the label, space criminal?"

Kamui chuckled awkwardly. "Well, I was in kind of a hurry…"

"We've been sitting here thinking she just _died_ because you couldn't be bothered to read the damn warning label?" Sougo felt irritation at the Yato replace hatred. Apparently China wasn't the only airhead in her family. But he couldn't be that mad. She was going to be okay. And somehow the air didn't seem as heavy as it had a few minutes ago.

Kamui sighed and patted Kagura's head once again. "It looks like she's out of the woods."

"Probably," said Sougo. The potion was made to return a body to its original state, and Kagura's wounds were already disappearing, albeit slowly.

"I should get going before she wakes up." Kamui's hand lingered, carding through Kagura's hair, before he stood. "Ah, this is such a pain. I have to go back on foot now that my escape pod is out of commission." He looked forlornly at the smoking heap of metal in the middle of the river. His umbrella had been abandoned with the guard Kamui stole these clothes from. Maybe he should wait until night fell and he didn't have to rely on the hooded cloak of this uniform for protection from the harsh sun, but it would be best to get out of here before Kagura fully recovered.

Sougo's eyes narrowed as Kamui brushed off his pants and looked up to determine the position of the sun in the sky. So the space criminal was leaving? Yeah, right. This might be a remote planet where Sougo had no jurisdiction and no legal power, but he was a policeman. And policemen don't just let notorious space criminals waltz off into the wilderness to resume their illegal activities at a later date.

Besides…

" _I don't know if you would get it, but being the one left behind…is really painful…"_

That little brat. It was like she'd known exactly how to get under his skin—although really, she always did. Sougo wasn't quite sure how China'd managed to drag him into her emotional mess, but somehow it felt wrong to let Kamui walk away from her now.

Maybe it was the element of surprise. Maybe Kamui was distracted. Or maybe it was just because Sougo was an excellent police officer. But whatever the reason, the fact remained that in the momentary pause as Kamui squinted away from the sunlight, Sougo was able to clap a heavy pair of metal handcuffs over the criminal's wrists before the Yato even noticed him moving.

"Hm?" said Kamui. "What's this?" He pulled at the cuffs experimentally.

"Don't bother. Those handcuffs were designed to restrain Amanto with monstrous strength, even Yato. They use electric impulses to weaken your muscles. Do your wrists feel numb yet?" said Sougo. To be honest, Kamui was so far above the level of an average Yato that there was a chance he'd still be able to break them, but Sougo would just have to wait and see.

Kamui frowned as he tugged against the bonds. "Earthlings really do have some interesting things. Your ships are built well, your food is good, and you have useful technology like this. I guess this is how you make up for being such a weak species—oh, not that you're weak, Sougo-kun. I was talking about humans in general."

Sougo, unfazed by Kamui's casual insults, paid more attention to the fact that Kamui didn't seem to be able to break the cuffs. Good. That would make this easier. "If you think Earth is that interesting, you're in luck, _Kamui-kun_. You'll get to visit before your execution."

"Execution? Isn't that going a bit far? And anyway—" quick as a bullet from a gun, Kamui had maneuvered himself behind Sougo and wrapped the chain of his cuffs around Sougo's throat, exerting only enough pressure to threaten. "—That's only if you make it off this planet, am I right? The government here is hunting all three of us."

Sougo ducked backward and twisted so his sword pressed calmly against Kamui's chest. This wasn't a real fight, not yet—once more they were just testing each other. "Don't worry about me. The only reason I'm not killing you yet is that I'm planning on letting you take the blame for that little incident on the cliffs."

Kamui removed his cuffed hands from around Sougo's neck and stepped back, cracking his knuckles. "I don't think it would be as easy to kill me as you're imagining. If you want to try, I think it might be fun to see if I can beat you without using my hands."

They stood watching each other, waiting. In all honesty, Sougo _wanted_ to fight Kamui, a sentiment he was sure the space criminal shared. Even if it had been Kamui who brought the potion to save China, Sougo was fairly certain he'd never forget the image of Kamui with his forearm covered in gore and sticking out of Kagura's back. It wasn't as if Sougo had never seen worse injuries, but this time had been different—maybe because he knew some of the twisted history between those siblings, maybe because he'd had to see Kagura's life fade away slowly and quietly (two words that should never describe the brat). Somehow that made him want to make Christmas decorations out of Kamui's intestines.

But still. They had other things to worry about. Sougo sheathed his sword carefully. "For now, we have the same goal—getting off this planet without being spotted by the Royal Guard. We can fight once we've done that."

Kamui watched the dark grey blade disappear, centimeter by centimeter, into the sheath. Only when Sougo's hand left the hilt did Kamui relax. "Are you suggesting we travel together?"

"I need to keep an eye on you."

Kamui smiled mock-cheerfully. "And what's in it for me? I think I'd be better off beating you right here and calling Abuto. I have pirates to command, you know. I've already wasted enough time as it is playing with an Earthling and my little sister." A short chuckle escaped him. "Abuto's definitely going to give me a lecture."

Sougo sighed. The criminal was such a pain in the neck, Sougo wanted to cut him down right here. Less than half an hour ago Kamui had almost lost it over Kagura's 'death', and now he was saying that they'd been 'playing'? Talk about denial. "Do you pay your debts, space criminal?"

The Earth policeman's tone had changed, and it took Kamui by surprise. He raised an eyebrow. "That's an odd thing to ask."

"China— your sister, she's insufferable. But—" Sougo recalled the Yagyuu Arc, the way Kagura'd agreed to team up with him despite their mutual rivalry, all to get payback on her enemies and to pay _him_ back for saving her. "—She pays her debts. Do you?"

"Kagura 'pays her debts', hm? Well, I can't let my little sister outdo me. But I don't think I owe you anything, do I, Sougo-kun?"

Sougo folded his arms. "Not me. You owe _her_."

Kamui opened his mouth a fraction so teeth showed in his smile. "If you mean for letting herself get hit so she wouldn't awaken and try to kill me, I believe I've paid that debt. The potion is working. And anyway, it's hard to say whether she would have been able to kill me at all. She tried so hard in the first fight that her body was already wrecked."

"I'm not talking about that," said Sougo. "I mean when you were unconscious. That should have been the end of the fight. China should have killed you. She could have. Easily. But she chose to spare your life."

"That was her weakness," Kamui said, still smiling, but his voice was rougher than it had been a moment ago.

"It doesn't matter. You were at her mercy, and she allowed you to live. You owe her your life," Sougo said, unsure if this tactic would have any effect on the Yato. He couldn't count on honor from the pirate, but pride was another story.

Kamui flexed his hands in and out of fists. "I owe her my life? All the more reason for me to leave now. The best thing I can do for her is leave." No longer smiling, he looked down at Kagura, who was already more healthy-looking and younger than she had been when Kamui got up. In the end, he had only learned what he already knew—that it was best for her to be far away from him.

 _Out of my way._

 _Out of my reach_.

No matter how much he wanted to—

But it was selfish to want anything when it came to her. Before, he'd left for his own sake, but this time he was leaving for hers. "She'll understand," Kamui said, more to himself than anything, but that didn't stop Sougo from hearing.

"She won't," said Sougo.

"What?"

"That brainless girl? She won't understand. You can spell it out to her, you can beat it into her, you can leave her alone for ten more years if you want, but she'll never learn her lesson. You think she's better off if you're not in her life? Frankly, I agree, but the China I know won't _ever_ accept that. She'll stupidly and stubbornly keep believing in you until you end up believing in her, too."

Kamui felt something in his chest constrict. "What makes you so sure?"

"I know her. She's persistent. She doesn't give up. She'll wear you down, bit by bit, until you acknowledge her." Although the words felt odd on his tongue, Sougo kept talking calmly. He knew, didn't he? How it felt to be worn down by China's constant determination. How a girl who'd been just another Amanto thorn in his side had become both a rival and and ally. She was still a nuisance, yes, but she had somehow become an inescapable part of his universe.

Then (because if he was _complimenting_ China, he may as well go all the way into Bizarro World), Sougo continued. "And because you and I are alike. We're people who don't deserve precious things. People who should have been given up on, but weren't. So I'll give you some advice, from one murderer to another—give up trying to stay away from her. This is one fight you're not going to win."

 _Fuck._ He was really laying it on thick, wasn't he? But it was true. Sougo wasn't the type to indulge in regrets, but his sister's death had been the exception to that rule. He could have been there for her. He should never have made choices for her, should never have asked her to stay in Bushu so she wouldn't be involved in the dangerous business of the nascent Shinsengumi. He should have trusted her and allowed her to live the life she wanted.

"Just trust her," Sougo finished.

Kamui said nothing, just stared downward intently.

A vein appeared on Sougo's temple. "Hey, hey, space criminal, are you paying attention? That was a pretty good speech I gave you just now."

Kamui bent his knees and reached for something on the ground. "Earthlings are often superstitious, I think. They believe the universe sends them messages. Do you believe in omens, Sougo-kun?"

"Depends on the omen."

"How about this, then?" Kamui held up the thing he'd picked for Sougo to see—a Yǔxīng flower, one of the many sprouting up in this area. "I used to bring this to my mother on her deathbed and then to her grave. They were her favorite, but—"

"But China doesn't like them. She mentioned," interrupted Sougo.

"She…doesn't," said Kamui. _No wonder_. He'd never had confirmation, but here it was. Kagura didn't like the flower that marked his presence—and his absence. "To Kagura, these flowers signify that I've left her. And they're growing all over the place. What do you think that omen means?" Kamui laughed coldly. "The universe is telling me to go, right? It's even saying goodbye for me."

"If you of all people are looking for signs from the universe, you must be desperate, uh-huh," said a raspy, feminine voice. _Kagura_.

Kamui and Sougo whipped around to stare at the newly-awakened girl, who was rubbing the sleep from her eyes and trying to sit up. She scratched her head lazily and reached out to pat Sadaharu, who was barking happily. "Don't make excuses anymore, baka Aniki."

Kagura. 15-year-old Kagura. The color had returned to her cheeks, and her eyes were tired but shining and undeniably _alive_. She wedged herself upright and frowned at the Shinsengumi coat she was wearing—so large on her that the sleeves fell past her hands.

How long had it been since Sougo had seen her like this? Like the real teenager she was—not a beautiful woman or a little girl, but as herself? Weeks… He tried, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd gone so long without seeing her face. It was like— something impossible to describe. The closest Sougo could come to describing the feeling was with a memory of having broken a rib and then, after enduring the pain and trouble breathing for days, finally going to the hospital to get it set. It had still hurt, but when the doctor had braced it back into the correct place, it was like something that was insidiously _wrong_ in Sougo's chest has been removed in an instant. The first breath he'd taken in that moment had felt like the first breath he'd taken in days, and now, looking at Kagura as herself, he recalled the incredible relief of taking that first full lungful of air.

 _She's okay._

For a moment, both Kamui and Sougo were lost for words, just waiting for what she would say next.

"I really have to pee," said Kagura, and she walked away into the woods.

Sougo rolled his eyes. No sense of atmosphere, that China. But that was how it should be. "You owe her," he said without looking at Kamui. "What do you think she wants?"

Kamui looked up at the sun, then at the flowers that littered the forest floor.

And then—

He sat down to wait for his sister to return.

* * *

 _ **Notes**_ _: How's that for a climax? Did you see it coming? I'm a sucker for happy endings, so you probably did._

 _If you've enjoyed this story, now would be a great time to leave a review telling me your thoughts! Also, there's a good chance you're wondering what happens next, so you can definitely request a teaser. Without spoiling too much, I will say this—there's certain things that you guys have been asking for/waiting for patiently, and I'm excited (really, really excited) to finally have a chance to write those things._

END OF ARC II


	18. Traps

Kids Will Be Kids

kingfisher's game

Chapter 16: If Not for Idiots Who Walk into Obvious Traps, We Wouldn't Have Horror Movies

…

 _ **Notes**_ _: I'm back, baby! Sorry for my absence. Please go easy on me for this chapter, haha._

 _Also, I noticed that some of the chapter numbers are messed up, so I'll go back and fix those at some point._

* * *

"It's hot," said Kagura.

"So hot," agreed Sougo.

"Really hot," said Kamui.

In another life, Kamui might have been the outdoorsy type. Hiking, hunting, fighting with bears in the forest—sounded like good times to him. In another life, maybe he would like the wilderness. But in this life? He was a Yato, and Yato just weren't outdoorsy. Well, maybe Kagura was, but she was a freak of nature. Kamui had no idea how Kagura could stand living on a sunny planet like Earth—only a little more than a day had passed since they'd left the clearing where Kagura was revived, and Kamui was already miserable. Whose idea had it been to leave his umbrella back where he'd first landed his escape ship? _Oh right, it was my idea_.

It was so goddamn _bright_.

The three of them were hiking through the thinning woods away from the capital in the direction of a mountain range where a Harusame base was supposed to be located. They'd hiked through the night, taking intermittent naps, but they couldn't stay in the forest forever. Besides, the amount of wild game that had been unlucky enough to stumble across their path wasn't nearly sufficient to feed either Yato. For Sougo's part, he'd been wary of drinking too much of the river water. An old pirate base wasn't much in the way of civilization, but it was better than nothing.

Sougo hadn't been a fan of the night travel, knowing the two Yato were infinitely more comfortable in the moonlit dark than he was, but even he had to admit the heat was intolerable as they made their piteously slow hike through the sunshine-soaked woods. Sadaharu led the way, carrying their belongings on his back while the three of them attempted to stick under patches of shade.

"No," said Kagura, "I mean, it's way too hot, uh-huh."

"Can't be helped," Sougo replied, fanning himself with his hand. "This part of Oukoku is in the height of summer."

"The sun in this solar system is stronger than most places," Kamui said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"No," said Kagura with barely-restrained annoyance. "I mean, _why the hell are you both under MY umbrella!?_ " Sandwiched between her brother and Sougo under the limited shade of the parasol, she attempted to push both men out of the way only to be held fast by two hands on her shoulders. _Those two—!_ "Get your own shade, uh-huh! Sadist, you're an Earthling—you don't even need to be out of the sun."

Sougo just pressed closer to Kagura's side so his other shoulder wasn't sticking out of the circle of shade. "I sunburn easily. Feel free to kick out the space criminal, though—I'm in the mood for fried rabbit."

On Kagura's other side, Kamui locked his arm around hers so she couldn't push him into the sun. "Sharing is caring, little sister."

"Stop touching me, both of you!" Kagura struggled in vain to dislodge herself from the two last people she wanted to share her umbrella with. "Kamui, use your hood, uh-huh! Don't be so familiar with me!"

"Sorry, but it's too hot for Onii-chan to wear a cape," Kamui laughed, ignoring Kagura's indignant yowl as he tugged her away from Sougo in hopes of securing more shade on his side.

Undeterred, Sougo put his arm around Kagura's shoulders and pulled her back toward him, re-centering the umbrella. Kagura jabbed at his ribs. "What're you doing? Trying to to cop a feel, uh-huh?"

"As if," Sougo drawled. "I like girls with big tits. Look at yourself. You're not 19 anymore, China, and you've got nothing that interests me."

Kagura stomped on Sougo's foot, earning a loud curse from him and another laugh from Kamui. "Shut up, you do-S bastard! Gin-chan says only men with big Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannons get girls with big boobs. I bet you're a virgin at 19, uh-huh."

"Don't put me in the same category as that walking pair of glasses you hang around with," Sougo said, not removing his arm from Kagura's shoulders. Instead, he flicked her, aiming for her eye, but missed and hit the spot between her eyebrows instead. "Never mind."

Kagura pushed Sougo's hand away and rubbed the sore spot. She tried again to get him out of the umbrella's shade, but he held her securely. "You… Stop clinging to me already, uh-huh! You're only making it more hot under here!" She tried to step on his foot again, but he moved out of the way. That sadist…always teasing her…although he was usually more aggressive than this. But whatever. She could be the aggressive one. She aimed her elbow at his side and snapped it toward him, only to miss when Kamui yanked her in the opposite direction.

"Kagura said 'stop clinging', Sougo," Kamui said cheerfully. "So stop clinging to my little sister, or I'll make you."

" _You too, stupid— baka Aniki!_ " Kagura's target changed from Sougo to Kamui, but the Yato dodged her blows effortlessly.

"Calm down," Kamui said, ducking away from Kagura's hands with a smile. "Look, we're here."

Kamui had never been to this particular location, but he'd seen the standard pattern for non-urban Harusame bases enough that he could predict what this one would look like. The foot entrance would be hidden behind a mine shaft opening in the base of the mountain they'd come to, a nonchalant pair of doors braced with a wooden frame and locked with both a visible set of chains and a hidden high-tech keypad entry.

Well… There were the doors, rusted green steel, firmly planted in the side of the mountain. There was the frame, splintered and yellowed to give the illusion of age. But the lock…the chains were slack and trailing to the dirt, and one of the doors hung ajar to the blackness within. Strange.

Sougo could feel the tension saturating the air along with the humidity of the summery forest as the space criminal scanned the mine shaft entrance. "Let me guess, space criminal…it's not supposed to be open like this."

"Hmm…who knows," Kamui mused, approaching the door and running his fingers over the patch of discolored moss where the keypad was hidden. The screen was broken, and it buzzed and flashed feebly in response to his touch. "It's been a few years since this base was used. Maybe that woman destroyed it on her way out?…"

He stepped inside, knowing the other two would follow. The screens on the inside of the tunnel were little better off than the one outside, but whatever motion detection remained intact was at least enough to trigger some of the lighting. With the passage dimly lit with flickering blue lights, Kamui could make out the warped growth of tree roots and vines wrapping around the lighting panels and braiding with the wires. The exposure to the outside world had allowed nature to intrude on the entry to the base, and it made an eerie scene.

Kagura stepped over a root. "What woman, uh-huh?"

"What?"

"You just said 'that woman destroyed it on her way out'," Kagura repeated. "What woman?"

"The old Shinra Harusame commander who owned this base, Kujaku Hime Kada."

"Why is there even a base on this planet?" Sougo drawled. "It's not exactly a trading hub, and we're nowhere near civilization."

"You're asking pretty confidently about criminal activities, policeman. What makes you think I'm willing to tell?" Kamui brushed aside a curtain of trailing vines to reveal a doorway, the door lying prone on the ground.

"Relax," said Sougo. "I'm just curious about how you plan to get us off this planet. Looks to me like everything in this base is broken."

"This was a maintenance bay. The Harusame used to send ships here for repairs and upgrades. Oukoku is a neutral planet—fairly lenient penal code, no extradition treaties with other governments. It's a good location for this kind of work. And as for why it's way out in the country…"

Kamui slipped through the doorway, followed closely by Kagura and Sougo. At their entrance, a light snapped on far above. Then another. Then fifty— sixty— one hundred—

"…Well, we couldn't exactly fit _this_ in the city, could we?"

As Sougo stared up, he had to agree with Kamui. It would probably be easier to fit a city _inside_ the massive chamber they'd entered. It was a aircraft hangar, but at least ten times larger than any hangar he'd seen before, its immense height and depth criss-crossed by a dozen levels of floating catwalks that provided access to the hundreds of damaged ships. Only the bottom center of the hangar remained mostly bare. With the spectacular variety of spacecraft assorted throughout the chamber, it looked more like an air and space museum than a maintenance garage.

It wasn't just Harusame ships, either—among those he could recognize were dozens (probably hundreds) of ships from various planets across the galaxy. Suspended directly above them by wires was a sleek shuttle in the style of an Earth leisure craft, its gleaming blue and white paint marred by black scorch marks. The shuttle's wings were detached from the main cabin and held at different levels in the air, attached to their origins only by fat ribbons of multicolored wire. Each damaged section was accompanied by a hanging observation platform.

The three of them ventured slowly out onto the empty floor of the hangar, the only section free of ships. _Well, almost free_ , Sougo amended wordlessly. Whatever had vandalized the entry tunnel had also damaged the hangar—some of the silver wires that kept the ships off the ground had been severed, and the cement floor was cracked in several places where the ships had fallen to the ground. Some of the observation decks had also fallen. _Bull in a china shop_ , Sougo thought, except that the bull would have to be the size of a cruise ship.

No, not a cruise ship…an aircraft carrier.

"Hey baka aniki, you said that Kada did this, right?" Kagura's voice echoed over the walls.

"Probably," Kamui answered. What was the alternative? Something else? What was big enough to do this kind of damage?

And what were the chances that it was still inside?

Kagura squinted into the shadows of the hangar. Most of the overhead lights remained unharmed by whatever combination of physical damage and natural erosion had affected the lights in the tunnel, but plenty of the hangar was still bathed in dark. Kamui and Sougo ventured deeper into the center, but Kagura hung back, feeling an animalistic instinct to dart back into the tunnel that led to the exit, back where there was at least a whiff of sunshine and fresh grass in the air. The floor of the hangar was too bare, too exposed—from the center, she'd have to run for at least a minute to reach cover if attacked.

"What's with you?" Sougo's voice called down from an observation desk somewhere above her head. He was closer than she'd been expecting, and she the shock of his voice sent a jolt through her. He snickered as she jumped half a foot in the air. "Oops, did I scare you?"

"Shut up," she hissed. "This doesn't creep you out a little bit, uh-huh? Feels like a trap."

"I guess," Sougo replied, gazing down at her with a leisurely half-smile. "But who cares? Whoever was supposed to be caught is clearly long gone."

He was probably right, reluctant as she was to admit it. The air smelled like jet fuel and oil and the same earth mixture of light-deprived plant life and fungus that had flourished in the tunnel. There was nothing sinister that she could concretely sense, just the wild and the familiar stink of the three of them, less than pleasant after their hours of walking through the sunny forest. "Yeah, whatever. It's still creepy."

"There's nothing here but us. Take a look around if you don't believe me."

"That's a good idea," Kamui's voice echoed from somewhere across the hangar. "We should split up and get a sense of where things are in this base. There should be a kitchen and sleeping quarters not far from the main hangar. It's built into a natural cave system, so don't go too far into the tunnels."

He paused, and a mocking tone entered his voice. "Kagura, if you're _scared_ , you can go outside and try to hunt. I'm starving."

"Shut up," Kagura muttered. She wasn't _scared_. She was _cautious_. There was a difference. What was so wrong with a healthy bit of caution, especially in enemy territory?

…

Hours later, a thorough exploration of the central chambers of the base had proven Sougo right. There was nothing in the base aside from them. And yet…Kagura could swear she kept hearing something breathing.

 _Maybe_ she was imagining it. Sougo and Kamui certainly seemed to believe so. But in all honesty, those two morons not believing her just made her believe herself more. There was something breathing in the dark recesses of the hangar and the tunnels where the broken lights didn't reach. She'd seen things moving in the shadows in the corner of her vision.

Sadaharu saw it too. He'd heard a rustling noise in a crevasse and pounced on it, only to drag out a dead rat. But if what Kagura was hearing was real, then the thing living in the tunnels of the old Harusame base was much, much bigger than a rat.

A lesser being would probably balk at the thought of inhabiting the same space as a huge alien creature, especially considering that the space was an abandoned pirate base that had been taken over by the forest. It was the perfect setting for a horror show, and if Kagura were here with Gin-chan and Shinpachi, she'd probably make try to make them leave. Unfortunately, Kagura's idiot brother and the sadist tended to be less receptive to her whims, and for now staying at the pirate base was the only lead they had to getting off the planet. Plus, between the three of them, they were more likely to be the perpetrators of violent crime than the victims.

Not to mention—fighting a huge alien would at least be something to do. It had only been two days ( _wait, seriously? Only two days?_ ) since her fight with Kamui on the cliffs, but Kagura was getting antsy. It was hard to relax around her two worst enemies, even if they weren't constantly at each others' throats like they'd been a few weeks ago. As weird as it was, the three of them were planning their survival around one another. They'd even split up duties—while Kamui tinkered with one of the old ships to try to power it up, Sougo had been tasked with preparing an unholy amount of rice that they'd found bags of in the kitchen and Kagura had volunteered to go out hunting with Sadaharu. Because she was bored. _Not_ because she was scared.

 _Those two and me…what a weird combo_. Kagura crouched next to the base of a tree, umbrella ready, waiting for Sadaharu to flush something out into the clearing so she could shoot it. For a domesticated animal, Sadaharu had really taken to the great outdoors, catching and eating his own meals until he was better fed than the rest of them.

…Not that the rest of them were all that good at taking care of themselves in the best of circumstances. Kagura, Kamui, and Sougo were powerhouses on the battlefield, but they each typically left the planning to someone else. Depending on each other was going to be an ordeal.

The leaves of a nearby bush shook violently and Kagura leapt to her feet at Sadaharu's growl of warning. For a second, nothing—then, in a millisecond, a thick poison-green serpent slithered out of the bush and toward Kagura. Surprised, Kagura jumped backward and the snake reared up to strike, fangs bared.

"Sadaharu!"

The dog burst through the bushes and pinned down the spine of the snake before it could reach her. Kagura seized its neck and slashed her umbrella through the air to decapitate it. Even with its head gone, it jerked and thrashed on the ground until it gave one final twitch and was still. It was one of the bigger snakes she'd ever seen, incredibly long and as thick around as her thigh.

"Snakes are edible, right Sadaharu?"

Sadaharu barked.

…

"You sure we can eat this, China?" Sougo asked as he eyed the enormous snake she'd wrangled from the forest. At first glance, it almost looked like no different than a garden-variety (jungle-variety) Earth snake, but the alien shimmer of its belly scales and the purple color of its blood told a different story.

"Don't worry," Kamui smiled. "We'll cook the poison out."

The Yato was the only one of the three of them confident in his snake-preparation knowledge ( _figures_ , thought Sougo), so he'd taken it upon himself to skin and clean the animal. Now that it had been cut into dozens of wide steaks, coated in flour, and set to fry on the stove in hot oil, even Sougo had to admit it smelled good. But still… "Isn't eating random creatures found in the forest what got us into this mess in the first place?"

"What do you think we should eat, then? Rice is fine, but Kagura and I need protein to keep our strength up. Go ahead and starve if you don't want it."

"Yeah, sadist. Leave more for the rest of us," Kagura chimed in. She grabbed an aluminum tray from a stack in one of the kitchen cabinets and shoveled rice and half a dozen fried snake rounds onto it, then hopped up on a counter to tuck in.

"Whatever." Sougo fished a piece of meat out of the sizzling oil and poked it with his chopsticks. The purple color wasn't exactly appetizing, but it tasted…okay. Somewhere between chicken and river fish, but extremely gamey. On the other hand, he hadn't eaten in over a day, and at this point anything would taste good. Even the plain rice he'd cooked was delicious. The Yato duo seemed to think so as well, considering the sheer quantity of food they were consuming.

Predictably, by the time Sougo was finished eating the two Yato were still going at it with vigor. Sougo rinsed his tray and dropped it in the sink (what? Sadists can't have manners? Mitsuba raised him right). "So what now?"

"Whatcha mean?" Kagura asked between bites.

Sougo turned toward Kamui. "Did you fix up one of those ships for us? Or are we going to be stuck here until the royal guard finds us?"

Kamui put down his chopsticks. "Any vessel that we could fix with the limited spare parts in this base would be too small to take us out of the atmosphere without going through the terminal, and it's not like we can get there in our current state. Plus, this base would usually be run by a team of skilled mechanics—do either of you have those skills? I don't."

"So what are you saying? Every ship in this bay is damaged beyond repair?"

Kamui shrugged. "The Harusame wouldn't have left good ships here when the base was abandoned."

"Oi, baka Aniki— why the hell did you bring us here, uh-huh?"

"There are a few ships that are intact enough for me to use the radio to try and get in contact with Abuto. I can give him the location and he'll come pick me up. But…"

Sougo could see where this was going; the flaw in this plan. "Let me guess, there are risks."

"Risks? Like what, uh-huh?" Kagura asked.

Kamui leaned back on the floor where he was sitting, looking uncharacteristically pensive. "None of the Harusame fleet ships in the hangar can be repaired with what we have, so we'll have to use one of the stolen ships. Obviously none of those will be able to communicate with my ship directly, so the best we can do is broadcast the signal to all receiving ships in the area. It's primitive technology, but it's the only form of communication that we'll be able to salvage."

"Every ship in the sky, plus the government stations in the capital will be able to hear the signal and find our location. You think your pirates will be able to get to us before the guard does?" Sougo asked.

"Probably. But if the guard gets here first, I think we can hold them off, yes?" Kamui grinned. "That's not the only thing, though. This base is running on low power since some of the solar panels that generate energy are cracked. We're going have to divert the power from the base to charge the ship. The base will go into lockdown a while after it loses power, so whoever's in the hangar area will have to stay there until we get a response from Abuto."

"Oh, is that it?" Sougo narrowed his eyes.

"No… If I had to guess, I'd say that with the power in this base already low from damage, it could take a few hours to recharge and end the lockdown, and that's if we cut the power to the spaceship. We won't be able to contact my battleship further if we do that."

"Don't make things so complicated," Kagura said. "Why can't you just call Abuto? Isn't there an easier way of doing things?"

"Not without my escape pod, and you can thank _Sougo-kun_ for destroying it. The only alternative is to wait for Abuto to come here on his own. We're at least 50 miles from the capital where I came down in the escape pod, so he'd have to guess that we came to the base. They might come if they need to refuel, but it'll probably be weeks before that's necessary. Maybe months."

 _Months!?_ Kagura gulped. Sure, there hadn't been any murder threats in last five minutes, but she was pretty sure they weren't going to be able to keep up that momentum for weeks, much less months.

Not to mention what she'd be missing. It was hard to keep track of the days she'd spent as a child, but it had been like a week and a half since she left Earth. And she _missed_ it. She wanted to get back to sleeping in a cozy bed, she wanted to take a bath that wasn't in a freezing cold stream…and you know what? She wanted to see Gin-chan! And Shinpachi! Those guys were probably out of their minds with worry without her. What was the Yorozuya without its adorable heroine? Gin-chan must miss arguing with Kagura about her nonexistent salary and Shinpachi must miss cooking obscene amounts of food for her…'cause she sure missed it.

Being away from them even for just a few days felt lonely. Months was too long. She was going to miss everything, all summer! The fireworks festival, the warm nights, the lazy luxury of sitting on her porch with her umbrella and saying "it's hot" while sucking on a 50 yen popsicle. Summer might be the worst season for the Yato, but it was the best season for young people. Kagura didn't think she could stand it if she left Earth in May and didn't come back until August.

Apparently Sougo felt the same way. "There's no way in hell I'm eating fried snake for months. If the radio plan is the only one we have, let's do it."

Kamui cocked his head to the side, waiting for Kagura's approval.

Kagura bit her lip. "Isn't it weird that you know so much about the lockdown procedure? You didn't ever work in one of these bases, yes?"

"No… I never worked in one, but the seventh division ransacked a base once. Once we turned off the power, it was easy. All of the workers were were trapped in individual sections with nowhere to run. It was like hunting rats in cages."

"So lemme get this straight—we're going to tell _everyone_ in the vicinity where we are, including your bloodthirsty pirate crew and the government that thinks we're terrorists? And to do that, we have to trap ourselves in a pirate base like _rats in cages_ , uh-huh?"

"Scared again, little sister?"

Kagura met her brother's gaze and grinned. "Bring it on."

…

Sougo's bed in the barracks chamber was thin and the blankets were stiff and scratchy, but it was a bed, and that was better than anything he'd had in a while. Plus, he'd been able to get clean—moldy pirate base shower be damned—and after the past few days, he'd needed it. It was insane to think about how much had changed in less than 48 hours.

Kagura, who should have been the most affected by this, seemed unfazed. Sougo could hear her even, steady breathing from the bunk above his. She was already asleep. But that was typical for her, wasn't it? That she could be on the brink of death and then be totally recovered, both mentally and physically, two days later. That she could forgive the person who nearly killed her.

Sougo was surprised she didn't flinch every time her brother looked in her direction. Kagura was strong, yes, but betrayal like that from a sibling would come at a deeper cost. Or so Sougo had thought… But Kagura didn't seem to harbor any ill-will toward Kamui, not beyond the level of sibling rivalry.

Sougo was having trouble being so forgiving.

She had almost died. That was unbelievable. There had almost been a world that existed without Kagura in it. The image of her lying still in the bed of flowers with a wound in her side that no one could survive was stuck fast in his memory. Now, in the darkness, whenever she exhaled, Sougo found himself on edge waiting for her to breathe back in.

On the bunk across from Sougo's, Kamui opened his eyes to stare upward. "You too, huh," he said quietly, speaking to Sougo with his attention trained on Kagura. Sougo nodded.

And so the two murderers let the rhythm of her breathing lull them into uneasy dreams.

…

Sougo dreamed of wolves and rabbits and a girl.

He was a wolf, of course. Even when he was awake. But in his dream he was a _beast_ , with teeth and claws and hunger like humans don't want to admit they have. He was chasing down a rabbit, and Kagura was the rabbit, although she was really just Kagura with bunny ears and a fluffy little tail ( _how the hell does that make sense_ , he asked himself; _because she's a Yato, and Yato is spelled 'night rabbit'_ , he answered himself, but apparently that was not enough of an explanation even for his dreaming mind because the dream changed—)

He was a wolf, again, the big bad wolf (yes, the _big bad_ ), and she was little red riding hood, little red China dress redheaded riding hood, the little girl she'd been ten years or a week ago, stopping to pick flowers on the way to Granny's house. And he really did have a soft spot for kids, because if he was going to eat Kagura whole, he'd much rather it be the adult one.

He hardly had to think about it and there she was, 19-year-old Kagura, fierce blue eyes vibrating with heat, and little red riding hood had become a huntsman, fearsome in her own right. She was a hunter and he was a wolf, and she drew back her bow, and he could feel his teeth sink into her flesh and the bite of her arrows. And then he wasn't a wolf, and she wasn't a huntress, and it wasn't his teeth but his mouth on her neck and the arrows in his back were her fingernails gripping into his bare skin. Her sweat tasted like salt… Her body was the 19-year-old body, the one he knew but didn't. _Will I still know her in four years?_ he wondered. _How well will I know her by then, and by then can I please have_ known _her like this, in the Biblical sense?_ She was so warm, warm everywhere, he could taste her voice in his mouth, and dear god he really needed to fucking get laid—

And then she turned into the 15-year-old Kagura, the one he really knew, and she wasn't a rabbit or a huntress or little red riding hood, just Kagura, just China, sitting on a park bench swinging her legs back and forth, waiting for him. Waiting to fight him. And so they fought, like usual, and he felt the odd sensation of wanting to watch her face as it switched from anger to pain to anticipation to thrill. And he pinned her and she didn't move out of his hold, and he stared at her expression as it changed into something he'd never seen before.

She was small, not as small as she'd been when they first met, but small. He could hold down both her wrists with one hand, though she could break his grip the instant she felt like it. _What do you want, China?_ he asked her.

 _That's a stupid question, uh-huh_ , she replied.

Kagura was waiting for something. Waiting for his next move, like always.

 _Then what do I want?_ Sougo asked.

 _You should already know what you want_ , Kagura said. And then she snapped her hands away from his and kicked him in the stomach.

…

Kamui dreamed of a battlefield.

It started out as one of his most common dreams. A thousand faceless opponents, and he hacked his way through each one, dodging, kicking, alone in the world but for the bodies that gathered all around him. The smell of blood everywhere.

A good dream.

Umibouzu… Where was he? In this dream, Umibouzu usually showed up about now… Once Kamui killed his father, he could be with his mother. It was a fantasy his waking self wouldn't indulge, but here, in dreams, he allowed himself to want to be with her. He'd had this dream enough times that he knew he'd be free to see her once he defeated the greatest obstacle between him and the title of 'strongest'. So where was he? Usually, by the time the pile of corpses got this high, Umibouzu would appear.

A lone ray of sunlight shone over the horizon. Then another. Why was the sun rising? That wasn't supposed to happen in this dream. Kamui held up his hand to his eyes. A high, pure voice broke the silence as suddenly as that first ray of light. "Still afraid of the dawn, baka Aniki?"

Kamui's blood went cold. "You."

The corpse-littered battlefield was gone. Instead, it was the mountainside where he'd fought Kagura days ago. And just like then, the older Kagura was standing on a high beam sticking out of the rock with the dawning sun at her back. Her long hair fluttered in the wind ( _like tongues of flame_ , he could remember thinking). She studied him with those eyes that were so like his and still so different. "You're not fighting the baldy this time. I'm your opponent."

"Get out of here," said the part of Kamui that had forgotten that this was a dream. "Get out of my way."

"No," she said simply, and jumped down to fight.

Kamui did not dream about fighting Kagura. He dreamed about beating her. It was no longer imagined to him—this was real, and Kagura had already beat him once. She was in his way. He needed to finish her if he wanted to be the strongest. It was like he was watching himself as they fought. He could see his every movement from an outsider's perspective. He couldn't feel her blood smearing across his clothing. It was easy this time. She was down in seconds.

Kamui watched himself walk up to Kagura, who was on her hands and knees coughing; watched himself pin her down with a single foot and grind the heel of his boot into her back; watched himself lift her up with a hand around her throat.

"Kill me," he heard himself say. "Kill me, or I'll kill you."

She looked at him. And despite the blood dripping down her face, despite her broken bones, her eyes still burned with conviction. "I'm going to save you, Kamui."

"You can't," he said, and then he punched into her stomach so hard that his hand shoved through it, up to the elbow. Again.

Kagura slumped forward onto Kamui's chest, again.

She threw up blood onto his back, again.

And now, with his hand impaled in the side of her stomach, Kamui was no longer an outside observer to his dream self's actions. He could hear her gasping breaths, smell the rancid scent of bile and blood, feel the disgusting warmth on his arm. Again.

He crumpled to his knees, taking his sister with him. "Kagura. Kagura. I…" _Not again_. Kagura's head rolled to the side and then backward in reaction to his movement.

Her eyes were wide open, vacant.

 _Not again._

Then he was standing at her bedside while she looked blindly at the ceiling. Or maybe it was his mother's form dying in that bed. It was hard to tell. With Kagura in her older body, they looked so alike.

There was a hole in her stomach.

"Why?" Kamui asked. Her hand was cold in his. "Why did you do it?"

"You wouldn't understand," Kagura said in a voice that was both hers and her mother's.

"I don't. I don't understand how it's worth it," he whispered.

Kagura—Kouka—turned her head toward him. Her face was already dead. "It wasn't," she said.

Kamui drew back as if she'd slapped him. "What?"

"Dying to save my family. It wasn't worth it."

Kamui watched, useless, as blood dripped out of her mouth.

"I'll admit now I was a fool to have loved you." The specter that was both his sister and his mother reached her hands out to wrap around his throat and squeeze with the little strength left in her dying body.

"You—" He reached up, but before he could dislodge her hands the skin of his arms hissed and went hot, as if being burned to ash by the imaginary acid of Kagura's blood that he couldn't seem to wash off. The specter's choking tightened, and Kamui found himself transfixed by the lifeless pits of blue her eyes had become.

"Kamui, _there is nothing in you worth loving_."

He already knew that.

He already knew that, but hearing it from her mouth—Kouka, who had loved her family, no matter their faults, until the end; and Kagura, who had seen firsthand the monster he'd shaped himself into and still tried to bring him out of the darkness—felt sickening.

A child, nine years old and uncomfortably familiar, patted Kagura's empty face. "Go away. I have no use—"

"—For weaklings," Kamui was saying. The unsettling scene of Kagura's dead body was gone, and now he'd returned to a memory. He looked up at the young Kagura's crying face with a cold smile. She was standing at the top of the stairs, watching him walk away. He'd left soon after that, he could remember… He could barely recall the look on her face as she watched him leave. Now, in his dream, he waited an extra moment under his umbrella to observe her.

5-year-old Kagura cried and cried.

But then—when she _knew_ , when she admitted to herself that her big brother wasn't going to come back—she clenched her fists and stood up as straight as she could. One last sniffle escaped her before she wiped away her tears and glared ahead, resolute. And she turned around to go back home, to the family that was waiting for her.

Kamui almost laughed in surprise at how maturely the little girl had acted in his absence. _So that's where the defiance in her eyes comes from_. Whether it had actually happened or this little scenario was just his imagination, he knew somewhere in his unconscious mind that this moment was exactly when the younger Kagura had realized the incredible burden weighing down on her and had resolved herself to become strong enough to shoulder it.

 _Ah, well. This is a dream, after all_. Instead of continuing off to the pirate ship like he did when this scene actually occurred, Kamui turned around and walked back up the stairs to follow after her. Because hell, if his little sister could deal with their messed-up family without running away, he had to at least try.

Even if it was just a dream.

…

And Kagura? Kagura dreamed of darkness. Something huge and ancient and leviathan, churning in the black, just out of her line of vision. Something with a ribcage so large that the vibrations of its breath echoed in a slow, foreboding rhythm throughout the base.

Something that was just beginning to wake up.


End file.
